2 teens dead, 5 others injured after gunfire breaks out during 'planned fight' at North Carolina park: Police
The incident occurred at a park in Winston-Salem on Monday morning.
Seven teenagers were shot, including two fatally, after a "planned fight" between juveniles at a North Carolina park escalated and several people opened fire, authorities said.
The gunfire broke out at Leinbach Park in Winston-Salem on Monday morning, according to police.
The fight broke out at the park before 10 a.m., and the "situation escalated significantly, leading to multiple people exchanging gunfire," the Winston-Salem Police Department said.
Two people are dead, according to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. Winston-Salem police identified them as 17-year-old Erubey Romero Medina, who was found in the parking lot of the park, and 16-year-old Daniel Jimenez Millian, who was located inside the park. Both had gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Additionally, four female teens -- ages 14, 15, 17 and 19 -- and an 18-year-old man were shot, according to Winston-Salem Police Capt. Kevin Burns. Officers located them in another nearby parking lot, with injuries ranging from minor to critical, he said.
The names of the injured minors will not be released, while the names of the adults are being withheld pending further investigation into their involvement, Burns said.
"Detectives are actively working to determine each individual's role in this incident," he said during a press briefing on Monday. "Preliminary information indicates that some of those injured may have also been involved in the shooting."
It is unclear how many firearms were involved, according to Winston-Salem Police Chief William H. Penn.
The incident was isolated to the park and remains under investigation, police said.
Leinbach Park is located near a middle school. Students at the school were safe, police said.
Chief Penn expressed frustration over the deadly mass shooting.
"I feel like everyone else. I'm frustrated, I'm angry, I'm sad," he said during the press briefing. "This didn't have to happen. It's senseless. And hopefully we as a community kind of get fed up together and just get more involved, get more nosy."
He urged parents to speak with their children and to take actions such as checking their backpacks before school.
"We gotta tell them to stay away from fights. I feel like I just had the same conversation about cellphones, fights and how just having those phones out, how that changes the behavior of our youth," the chief said. "And I'm saying it again -- stay away from the fights. It's not the same as it used to be."
Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O'Neill also urged parents to speak with their children and for people to report fights in the hopes of avoiding such deadly violence.
"I can't help but believe that somebody out there would have known about this fight taking place this morning and didn't pick up a phone and anonymously call and this could have been averted," O'Neill said during the briefing. "There is incredible sadness and tragedy in the homes of our neighbors tonight, and it all could have been averted."
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