The student who was shot at, Octavious Laundry, 17, has been involved in a long-standing dispute with one of the three intruders, McElroy said. Tampa police charged Laundry in January with felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. McElroy said he fired at the person who shot at him Wednesday, she said.

Details of the case were not available because Laundry was charged as a juvenile.

Laundry's father, William, said in an interview that his son didn't shoot anyone.

Late Wednesday, police reported the arrest of Ariel Cruz, 17, of 4106 N. 15th St. Police said he fired the shot Wednesday and charged him with aggravated assault with a firearm. Cruz was to be taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center while detectives continued to search for the two people with him during the 12:08 p.m. shooting, police said. The three had escaped in a green, four-door sedan, possibly a Toyota Camry, McElroy said.

William Laundry said he saw a similar car drive past the family's home Sunday and several shots were fired from the vehicle at a boy on a bicycle.

His wife planned to go to the school today to have Octavious transferred, which the couple have been trying to do for years, he said. "He don't like the school. He don't want to go there," William Laundry said.

School officials locked down the building for about 45 minutes after the shooting. An estimated 20 police officers combed the campus for the intruders as a precaution, even though witnesses told police the three had driven away, McElroy said.

About 200 students were at the school Wednesday for summer programs that started May 31. The programs include orientation for eighth-graders, an FCAT academy for students trying to pass the math portion, and dropout prevention programs, school district spokesman Steve Hegarty said.

About 1,800 students are enrolled there during the school year, he said. Two resource officers are assigned to the school throughout the year as security and were there Wednesday, Hegarty said.

After the shooting, the school district's security chief surveyed the campus, looking at traffic patterns and other areas that could be better secured. "We are taking additional security measures as a result of what happened," Hegarty said.

Police and school officials gave this account of the incident:

The three intruders likely entered the school campus, 4801 N. 22nd St., near Hillsborough Avenue, from an open gate in a chain-link fence facing East Wilder Avenue.

The gate often is locked, but because the school's summer programs have different start and end times, it was left open.

A teacher saw the three park in a side lot and walk onto the campus and called 911.

The three saw Laundry and a friend outside in the school courtyard, and they got into a fight. When one of the three pulled out a gun, Laundry and his friend ran through a door that opens onto a hallway.

The gunman fired, striking the door glass. The bullet's small caliber and the thickness of the glass likely prevented the bullet from traveling into the hallway, McElroy said.

Nicole Sallins, 15, said she saw the young men fighting. "The one boy pulled out a gun and shot one time," she said. Then "the teacher grabbed me and pulled me in the class. It took me a long time to get calmed down."

Afterward, Sallins sent her mother a text message via phone to tell her "some boys from a gang were shooting."

McElroy said she could not classify the shooting as gang-related, but "it's definitely between two groups of kids who are involved with criminal activity."

Sallins' mother, Catherine Lane, 32, said she has been concerned in the past about neighbors meandering onto the school property.

News Channel 8 reporter Rod Carter contributed to this report. Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800.
SCHOOL SHOOTINGS

1987: Leto High School student Karl Tramer shoots himself in the head during class and later dies.

1988: Two Pinellas Park High School assistant principals and one student teacher are shot by a student in the school cafeteria. Assistant Principal Richard W. Allen later dies from his wounds.

2000: Ridgewood High School student Ted Niziol is accidentally shot and killed in the school parking lot with a gun he brought to school.

2001: Six-year-old developmentally disabled student brings handgun to J.S. Robinson Elementary School and accidentally fires the weapon when he reaches into his pocket. The student receives a bruised leg, but no serious injuries reported.

2006: Young Middle Magnet School lunchroom manager Ada Rodriguez and her husband, Alfredo, are found shot to death in the school parking lot. Their deaths are ruled a murder-suicide.

Wednesday: Three men enter the Middleton High School campus and fire a shot at a student.

Source: Tribune research