DES MOINES, Iowa — Monday was the first day students at Roosevelt High School were back in class following a tragic shooting at a prom afterparty over the weekend. But for students and community members alike, there are still plenty of questions left unanswered.
"You hear about this, and you hear that your kid is in the hospital because someone decided to bring a gun to an after-prom party. I just can't believe it," said one student who attended the party, who wished to remain anonymous.
Around 12:30 a.m. on May 8, officers responded to a shooting on the 400 block of Foster Drive in Des Moines. After a group of uninvited guests arrived at the party, shots were fired, and three people—a 17-year-old girl and two 18-year-old men—were injured. The student who spoke to Local 5 actually saw one of the injured students before the shooting started.
"That's kind of terrifying to me because he was 10 feet away from me and my friend while we were running away, but somehow he got shot, and we didn't. And so that's kind of absolutely insane," they said.
The incident is still under investigation. DMPD believes there were two shooters at the party. With approximately 200 people in attendance, most of them teens, the situation could've been much worse.
"You get gunfire inside a home and a home that is so densely occupied by so many people. We could be talking about a fatality very easily. It's a miracle that nobody was more seriously injured," said Sgt. Paul Parizek with DMPD.
It's only been a bit more than a day since the shooting, but it's still fresh in the mind of those who saw it. For many, even remembering the tragedy isn't easy.
"Every single second, you don't know what's going to happen the next second. And so for me, the toughest part was actually afterward. And I was just sitting there trying to figure out, what happened?" the anonymous student said.
None of the injuries are expected to be life-threatening. At least two of the victims are out of the hospital.
Roosevelt Principal Steven Schappaugh sent an email to Roosevelt families on Monday morning. In it, he said that DMPD squad cars were stationed around campus throughout the school day as an additional precaution, but there is no known threat to students.