Teen arrested in connection with fatal shooting on school property in Northeast Baltimore
BALTIMORE -- Police have arrested a 17-year-old boy in connection with the murder of a Mergenthaler High School student on school property, according to authorities.
The teen suspect allegedly shot and killed 17-year-old Jeremiah Brogden just after school dismissal on Friday, around 2:55 p.m., police said.
The confrontation became "heated" and the suspect produced a gun and fired multiple times, Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said during a press conference after the shooting.
Baltimore City Schools Police officers were outside of the school at the time of dismissal. They chased the teenage suspect and apprehended him, Harrison told reporters.
They also found the gun he used, police said.
Meanwhile, other officers who arrived at the school performed CPR on Brogden, according to authorities.
An ambulance took him to Johns Hopkins Hospital, which is where medical personnel pronounced him dead, police said.
Multiple students told WJZ the victim was a football player. Afterschool activities at the school, including a football game scheduled for 3:45 p.m., were canceled, the school district said. More than 1,700 students attend Mervo.
Harrison said the incident is emblematic of a common problem in Baltimore City: easy access to guns and "the willingness to use them just to solve conflict."
"This is conflict resolution, or the failure to solve conflict in a peaceful, sensible way, but rather someone using a gun that they are not allowed to have in the first place to solve their conflict and take out their anger on someone else," he said. "And now the community is at a loss."
The 17-year-old suspect is facing charges of first-degree murder, according to authorities.
He is being held without bail at the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services facility, according to authorities.
Following the arrest announcement, Mayor Brandon Scott said on Twitter that he was saddened by the death of Brogden.
"Any act of violence is hard to take, but losing a young man who was only beginning to grow into his full potential makes this even more heartbreaking," Scott said.
