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2 shot outside high school football game in York


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Update: York City Police identified the two men shot outside the William Penn Senior High School football game as Darius Allen, 23, of York, and Antwan Jackson, 20, from the York area. Police said the shootings occurred after a verbal dispute inside the stadium.

Reported earlier: Two men were shot Friday night in the parking lot outside of Small Athletic Field, where the William Penn Senior High School team was playing its first home football game of the season.

The men were taken to York Hospital by ambulance, but an update on their condition was not available by 12:30 a.m. Saturday.

They were both breathing and alive when taken from the scene,York City Police Lt. Erik Kleynen said.

As many as eight shots rang out in the school game's fourth quarter, which had about eight minutes left to go at the time. William Penn was playing against J.P. McCaskey.

A call for shots fired was dispatched over the radio. School police officers put the stadium on lockdown almost immediately, not letting anyone in or out until the scene was declared safe.

That decision came about 20 minutes later by the York City Police Department, which is heading the investigation into the shooting. At about 10:50 p.m., York City School District Spokeswoman Erin James said she had no report from officials that anyone was in custody.


Police from multiple agencies responded to the scene. Officers from as far away as Hellam Township were at the field assisting. West York Borough and Pennsylvania State troopers were also helping.

"Of course, we're all disappointed," York City School District Superintendent Eric Holmes said at Small Field. "But we'll move forward."

Holmes said his school police officers are helping York City Police, including working with them to share footage from cameras that are posted on light poles in the parking lot.

Police cordoned off a large, middle section of the lot that sits diagonally across from where Albright and Hamilton avenues intersect. The owners of the cars that were parked inside the caution tape were not allowed to leave as officers investigated.

But as the call to lift the lockdown went out, a large stream of people flooded into the lot.

School officials said over 1,000 people were at the game.

At the gates to the field, the school has metal detectors set up. Holmes said no one is allowed in to a game without first going through a detector.

The game was called, with the final score 26-6 McCaskey.

'I'm just so sick right now'

Julian and Kathy Glover, a married couple, were at the game. They said they were by the gates and planning on leaving when the shots rang out.

Kathy Glover said some people were running. Some dropped to the ground.

"You could see the sparks from the rounds," she said.

The couple was ushered back in the stadium. The players on the field went back into a far corner of the field, the furthest they could get from the parking lot.

Patricia Green showed up to the parking lot. She said she has a son who's a senior on York's team.

"This is their first home game!" she said. "It's absurd. I am just so sick right now."

She had family inside the stadium, and at the beginning of the night after the shots were fired was trying to find them.

"My kids called me hysterical," she said.

Lt. Troy Bankert, who commands the city's detective bureau, said that he was still in the process of talking with his detectives. The city police were on scene interviewing school police officers.

He declined to comment on what happened. He confirmed no one had been taken into custody.

By midnight, York City police officers were walking through the grass on the far side of the lot, using flashlights to search nearby grass and fences.

At one point, a detective looked oddly at a car parked outside the caution tape. It was leaning to its left. He noticed its back left tire was flat, and wondered if a bullet had somehow struck it.

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Watch: William Penn football coach talks about shooting
After a shooting outside of their first home game, William Penn football coach Russ Stoner talks about gathering his team and where they go from here.
Jason Plotkin, York Daily Record