Senior Skip Day Ends in Tragic Shooting at Schrom Hills Park

Friday, April 19 was Senior Skip Day for Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) senior students. This year the day ended in an eruption of violence at Schrom Hills Park, leaving five teens shot, two of whom remain in the hospital. The day is a tradition dating back decades in which seniors skip school for a day sometime during their finals weeks of classes and gather to have fun together. It’s not organized or sanctioned by PGCPS but it’s well known and recurs each spring. One parent said flyers about the day had been circulating in area high schools.

Hundreds of students, from a variety of county schools, gathered earlier Friday afternoon in Bowie. The crowd of 500 to 600 young people was dispersed from their gathering there and reconvened at Greenbelt’s Schrom Hills Park. Greenbelt did not have any warning from other agencies about the potential large gathering prior to it happening. Those participating in Senior Skip Day included Eleanor Roosevelt High School students and “probably almost every school in the county,” said Chief Richard Bowers of Greenbelt Police Department. The students likely used text messages and social media to communicate the locations to convene.

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