16-year-old Bladensburg High School student dead after shooting
BLADENSBURG, Md. - A 16-year-old student from Bladensburg High School is dead and Prince George's County police are trying to figure out what happened.
Diego Gomez-Martinez was found inside an apartment shot once in the lower body and died several hours later at a nearby hospital. Friends say a number of teens were playing video games when the gun went off.
Prince George's county police say investigators are still trying to piece together exactly what happened. They have been interviewing everyone who was inside at the time of the shooting and are still looking for one person who ran from the apartment when the gun went off. Although the circumstances are still unclear, police are investigating the possibility this may have been an accident.
Malik Herbin says he found Diego on the floor in front of the couch suffering from a gunshot wound to the lower torso and tried to stop the bleeding, "I got a shirt from ab and pushed down on the bullet hole until the help got here--he kept trying to move, we kept telling him to stay down and he kept trying to move and I wouldn't let him move until the police come here to get him."
Herbin says he didn't see the shooting but did see someone run out with a gun, "yeah, I heard but I don't know who it was nobody knows who it was."
No one answered the door at the victim's home, but a man who lives in the building described the 16- year-old like this as someone who is very respectful. "He's very respectful, this is all news to me that he got shot, I feel for his family, I give them my condolences cause he has never been a problem with me."
A neighbor who lives in the apartment just below the one where the shooting took place says she doesn't feel safe and frequently smells the odor of marijuana, "It's not safe for us because we need some protection here because kids from school smoke marijuana, smelling up the whole place, we are not comfortable here and so we need protection from this place."
The principal of the high school declined to comment on camera, but did a letter home to the parents of her students.
Although the circumstances are still unclear, police are investigating the possibility this may have been an accident.
Prince George's County Police are asking anyone with information to contact the department's Homicide Unit at 301-772-4925. Callers that want to remain anonymous can contact Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477), text "PGPD" plus your message to CRIMES (274637) on your cell phone or go to www.pgcrimesolvers.com and submit a tip online.
Stay with FOX 5 for updates involving this developing story.