4 students shot in drive-by near Overbrook High School

Four students were injured in an apparent drive-by shooting shortly after Overbrook High School let out early for the day on Wednesday, a city schools spokesperson said.

The shooting took place just after 11:30 a.m. on the 1900 block of N. 60th Street, about a block from the school’s campus. Police said a 15-year-old girl was shot in the thigh and shoulder, and another 15-year-old girl was struck in her shoulder.

Two boys, both 16, were injured in the shooting. One was shot in his leg, and the other was hit in the hand and suffered a graze wound to his face, according to authorities.

All four teenagers were hospitalized with nonlife-threatening injuries, police said. Overbrook High School was placed on lockdown for a little over an hour following the shooting.

Monique Braxton, the district’s deputy chief of communications, said students were let out early because of parent-teacher conferences. In a phone interview, she said the district’s Office of School Safety told her the students were at a corner store when the shooting occurred.

“We don’t know who was targeted, if any of the four of them were targeted,” Braxton said. Parents were being notified early Wednesday afternoon after the children were hospitalized.

“This is outrageous, that young people would be shot shortly after being dismissed from their high school,” Braxton said.

Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Jerry Jordan called for change to the nation’s gun laws, citing recent mass shootings at the University of Virginia, a Colorado gay nightclub and inside a Virginia Walmart.

“Today, students leaving Overbrook High School, ready for time off from school with their loved ones, had their lives upended by the devastation wrought by gun violence,” Jordan said in a statement. “No one should have to go to school in fear. Or go to a club in fear. Or go to work in fear. Or simply exist in fear for their life.”

Metro reporter Jack Tomczuk contributed to this story.