School feud ends with murder in the gym

A feud between teenagers spilled over into a packed high school gym as assailants armed with an AK-47 assault rifle and a handgun opened fire, killing one youth and wounding three others.

“I had just left the gym to go to the school nurse when I heard the shooting,” said Kyle Ramos, 15, a student at John McDonogh High School in New Orleans.

“Bam, bam, bam. I knew what it was and I ran.”

Four suspects, between 17 and 19 years, were arrested following yesterday’s shooting in the gym which was crowded with approximately 200 students.

Police said the shooting appeared to be retaliation for a murder which occurred on April 7.

Police Chief Eddie Compass said he did not know if any of the suspects attended the school, about a mile north of the US jazz city’s French Quarter.

It was not clear how the guns got past metal detectors and guards at the school. Students and school security officers said there was a hole in the fence near the gym.

The four suspects apparently confronted Jonathan Williams, 15, as he sat in the gym with other students.

He was shot repeatedly in the head and body, police said.

Three girls were wounded in the barrage and a fourth was injured in the stampede to escape.

Tyrone Crump, 17, Herbert Everett, 18, and Michelle Fulton, 17, were all booked on murder charges.

The fourth suspect arrested, Larry Moses, 19, allegedly hid the trio after the shooting and was booked as an accessory, police added.