Teenager Shot On UWS Near Multiple Local Schools: Police

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — A teenager who is a local student was shot Tuesday morning on the Upper West Side, prompting two nearby schools to go into a brief lockdown, multiple spokespeople from city agencies confirmed to Patch.

A 17-year-old boy was shot twice in the stomach around 9:50 a.m. at Amsterdam Avenue and West 68th Street, NYPD said. He proceeded to run into the nearby Martin Luther King Jr. Educational Campus, where he is a student, and alerted people that he needed help, NBC4 reported.

He was then rushed to New York Presbyterian Hospital in stable condition, NYPD said.

The schools within the Martin Luther King Jr. Educational Campus on Amsterdam Avenue and West 66th Street, as well as the next door LaGuardia High School, went into a brief shelter in place in response to the "off site, non-school related incident," a spokesperson from the Department of Education told Patch.

The shelter-in-place was lifted around 10:30 a.m., the spokesperson added.

NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell gave a briefing Tuesday afternoon, where he said that the 19-year-old shooter got into a cab, but was stopped quickly thereafter and placed under arrest. A handgun was also recovered from the suspect, Chell said.

The senior police official added that the shooting happened after a fight broke out between four or five people, and that officers are searching for other people involved.

Police added that the 17-year-old victim and the 19-year-old accused shooter were former classmates.