LANHAM, Md. — Two new portable weapon screening devices have been installed at DuVal High School just two days after a 16-year-old student was shot to death while walking home from school.
Prince George's County Public Schools says the installation of the detectors at the Lanham High School was slated for October, but they decided to move up the date following the death of eleventh-grader Jayda Medrano Moore.
"I was very scared," Felix Fon, a father of a tenth grader at DuVal told WUSA9. He says he has lost sleep over the recent killing of the student who was shot a block from campus
Police say the girl was walking along Palamar Drive shortly after school let out when two groups of people got into a fight. During the argument, a suspect took out a gun and fired, hitting the girl and killing her.
Police sources tell WUSA9 they do not believe the girl was the intended target. Right now, no arrests have been made.
"I want my kids to be safe. Safety is a concern for us because of what is going on around," Fon said. The worried father says the new technology is a good first step that gives parents some peace of mind.
The nearly 2,400 students at DuVal will have to walk through these detectors every day, according to the school system.
Last year the Lanham school had several lockdown incidents after students brought weapons to class.
"We utilized data from across the country that tells us that when there are weapons in schools, they tend to be at the high school level," said Prince George's County's new superintendent Millard House II to WUSA9 at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year.
The school system says the screening devices are being rolled out as planned. So far, seven high schools have installed the new technology:
- Suitland High School
- Dr. Henry A. Wise High School
- Bowie High School
- DuVal High School
- High Point High School
- Central High School
- Oxon Hill High School
Prince George's County Public Schools expects the rest of the high schools in the county to have the devices by the end of the first semester and middle schools will be complete by the end of the second semester.
Prince George's County Police have increased their presence on and around DuVal High School during the week following the recent shooting.