Police: Shooting Victims at High School Football Game Were Specifically Targeted
A shooting at a Florida high school football game Friday night had nothing to do with the students of schools playing, but rather was targeted at the victims, police have determined.
Two men are being sought in connection with the shooting in Wellington that left two victims hospitalized, one in critical condition, Fox News reported.
“This was not a result of a current altercation or a random act of violence,” said Teri Barbera, spokeswoman for the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “This was not a random act of violence and had no bearing on the Palm Beach Central or William T. Dwyer High Schools, students, faculty and/or staff.”
The victims were Daniel Foster, 39, who was in stable condition, and a 29-year-old man whose name was not released, who was in critical but stable condition. Both were from the West Palm Beach area.
This shooting WAS NOT a random act of violence and had NO bearing on the Palm Beach Central or William T. Dwyer High Schools, students, faculty and/or staff. The shooting occurred just outside the seating area of the stadium near the ticket booth.
— PBSO (@PBCountySheriff) August 18, 2018
“This shooting WAS NOT a random act of violence and had NO bearing on the Palm Beach Central or William T. Dwyer High Schools, students, faculty and/or staff,” the sheriff’s office said in a tweet Saturday night. “The shooting occurred just outside the seating area of the stadium near the ticket booth.”
“The people that were involved in the shooting were looking for these two individuals,” Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told the Palm Beach Post.
“Now, they had some information that they very well might be at the football game but they could have been at a bowling alley. … These type of things, because of the people that are involved in it, happen at a time and a place where they can find each other.”
UPDATE: Shooting at prep football game in Wellington not a ‘school’ shooting https://t.co/IVirwu1a1Y
— The Palm Beach Post (@pbpost) August 19, 2018
Foster is the father of Daniel Foster Jr., who plays football for Dwyer high school.
Dwyer Principal Corey Brooks said Foster is not part of the lives of his son or his son’s mother.
“This young man never lived with the dad, he’s never been in a relationship with the dad, he’s not even listed as a parent on the student record,” Brooks said. “He does not come to the football games and mom saw him last night and was very surprised to see him.’
Parent Robin Shecter said she was at the game to pick up her children when “all of a sudden two guys broke out in a fight.”
One pulled a gun “and started shooting,” she said. “I mean, I was in a trance. I couldn’t believe it. And one of them, somebody, hit my car. Then I saw what was going on. They said, ‘It’s a shooter!’ I got out of my car, ran all over by the bleachers, looking for the kids.”
“I remember panning down and seeing all of the football players running to the locker rooms. And I remember thinking, this isn’t right, something is not right,” student Chase Strelec said.
“And at that moment when everyone was running toward me I just saw a sea of black and red and silver and empty bleachers,” Strelec added.
He joined the tide.
“I just had to get out of there as fast as I could. I didn’t want to risk my life at all,” Strelec said.
School officials said that schools would open Monday as usual.
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