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Tag: wootton high school

  • Teen charged in Wootton High School shooting to remain in jail after bond hearing – WTOP News

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    A 16-year-old boy is due in court Wednesday for a bond hearing after the Wootton High School shooting in Rockville, Maryland.

    A Montgomery Police officer blocks the road as people wait outside Thomas S. Wootton High School for students in Rockville Md., Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, after a person was shot inside the school. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)(AP/Jose Luis Magana)

    The 16-year-old boy accused of shooting a fellow student inside Rockville, Maryland’s Wootton High School on Monday texted a friend and asked him to bring a backpack to the school that prosecutors believe was carrying the gun, prosecutors said during a bond hearing Wednesday.

    The teenager, who’s charged with attempted second-degree murder, will remain in jail after a judge ordered him held without bond at the conclusion of that hearing.

    The 16-year-old is being charged as an adult with an additional two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault and possession of a dangerous weapon on school property.

    At a Tuesday news conference, Rockville Police Chief Jason West said the teen pointed a gun at a 15-year-old girl earlier Monday before shooting a 16-year-old schoolmate. The teen charged in the shooting then left the school and hid the gun in his backyard, according to prosecutors.

    West said the suspect and victim knew each other, but police are still investigating the motive behind the shooting.

    West said the student who was shot is in stable condition.

    “In this case, the second victim did not suffer injury,” West said. “However, through investigation, we learned that the suspect in the case pointed a firearm at that person earlier in the day, prior to this shooting occurring.”

    Officers with the Montgomery County Police Department were dispatched to the high school around 2:15 p.m. Monday following a report of shots fired inside the school.

    A student was found shot in a school hallway and taken to a hospital.

    Police said officers recovered the weapon: a Polymer80 9 mm handgun, that they believe was used in the shooting. West said the weapon is commonly referred to as a “ghost gun,” and officers found it late Monday night, away from the school.

    “We know that those types of firearms are very difficult to trace, if we can do that at all,” West said.

    “Part of our investigation will include, ‘Where did that firearm come from? How did that student come into possession of that firearm, and how did it get into the school?’”

    WTOP’s Luke Lukert and José Umaña contributed to this report.

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    © 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Neal Augenstein

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  • Montgomery County native competes in finals of NBC’s ‘American Ninja Warrior’ – WTOP News

    Montgomery County native competes in finals of NBC’s ‘American Ninja Warrior’ – WTOP News

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    Growing up in North Potomac, Karen Potts loved watching NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” on TV. On Monday night, she’ll compete in Stage 1 of the finals.

    WTOP’s Jason Fraley previews ‘American Ninja Warrior’ (Part 1)

    Growing up in North Potomac, Maryland, Karen Potts loved watching NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” on TV. On Monday night, she’ll compete in Stage 1 of the finals.

    “I’m definitely excited to watch,” Potts, 19, told WTOP. “I know what happens, but I love to see the way they put it all together and then a bunch of my friends are competing too, the way you meet people through there. I’ll be back at school by then, so I think my softball team and some other friends are all going to watch it together.”

    She currently attends Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where she’s majoring in nutrition and psychology with a minor in sports medicine — all things that come in handy on “American Ninja Warrior.”

    “Nutrition is big when you’re competing in sports, especially when you’re competing in something like ‘Ninja’ where it’s very active, a lot of strength is involved,” Potts said. “Then psychology, being on the course and especially with this being a TV show, there’s a big mental aspect, so that definitely goes hand in hand.”

    Her athletic prowess began at Wootton High School where she was a goalkeeper on the soccer team in the fall, a post player on the basketball team in the winter, and a shortstop on the softball team in the spring.

    “Hand-eye coordination, agility and overall athleticism helps a lot with ‘Ninja,’” Potts said.

    This isn’t her first ninja rodeo. The teenager previously competed in Season 2 of “American Ninja Warrior Junior,” followed by Season 14 of the adult “American Ninja Warrior” where she fell during the finals in 2020.

    “In Season 14 on Stage 1, I fell on something called the Giant Rollercoaster,” Potts said. “There’s three different tracks, so you’re hanging on a bar on the first one, then you slide down it and lache, which is what they call jumping from bar to bar. You have to lache to another track, slide down that one, then for the third one you have to carry the bar with you and place it in smaller handles and dismount from there. I fell on the transfer with the bar.”

    Now, she’s making her comeback on Season 16 trying to finally get over the finish line.

    “I definitely wanted to come back because I love the sport itself,” Potts said. “Ninja has such a great community, so the experience of being on the show is just super cool and super fun. You get to meet people from all over, so I wanted that aspect again. I also wanted to do better than I had done. … I wanted to try that one again and hopefully beat it. I was super excited when I was called to be on Season 16 because I wanted another chance.”

    This season started with her placing first in the qualifying round, becoming the only woman to reach the fifth obstacle in a six-obstacle course. In the semifinals, she won a side-by-side race in another obstacle course.

    “The beep sounded, which started our race, I was running across steps, you have to go back and forth, and went through these laches,” Potts said. “I was a step and a half ahead of my opponent into the wing nuts … made the dismount then onto the next obstacle, hop scotch, which is small cliffhanger ledges to little laches. I was about one move in and saw my opponent fall next to me, so I knew the only thing I had to do was complete that obstacle.”

    Now, she faces her biggest challenge yet in Stage 1 of the finals in Las Vegas.

    “Tonight, there’s a bunch of big obstacles,” Potts said. “It starts with big agility strides into a double barrel, which is two big swings on rotating barrels to dismount, followed by the Giant Rollercoaster, which is actually the obstacle that took me out last year. After that, there’s a spider wall, which is a trampoline jump, you have to prop yourself up between two walls. There’s another upper-body obstacle, then the Warped Wall, a staple of ‘Ninja Warrior.’”

    WTOP’s Jason Fraley previews ‘American Ninja Warrior’ (Part 2)

    Listen to our full conversation here.

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    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Jason Fraley

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  • Md. teen with violent ‘manifesto’ ordered held in jail as judge cites escalated intensity, planning of threats – WTOP News

    Md. teen with violent ‘manifesto’ ordered held in jail as judge cites escalated intensity, planning of threats – WTOP News

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    Alex Ye, was arrested as an adult, according to Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy, and faces up to 10 years in prison.

    A student at Wootton High School in Montgomery County, Maryland, was arrested Wednesday and charged with making threats of mass violence after police say he wrote a 129-page “manifesto” describing a desire to “shoot up” an elementary school and his high school.

    The student, Alex Ye, was arrested as an adult, according to Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy, and faces up to 10 years in prison.

    During Ye’s first appearance in court Friday, a judge ordered him held without bond after prosecutors said they couldn’t think of a greater threat to the community. Defense attorney’s for Ye said he should be released and monitored from home, a request the judge denied after citing the escalating intensity and planning of Ye’s alleged threats.

    In a joint news conference, state officials, police and county school officials came together to detail the situation to the public.

    Timeline

    Chief Marcus Jones said officers began investigating 18-year-old Alex Ye — who lives in Rockville and attended Wootton High School — on March 3, after he shared the document with a friend who ended up calling police.

    While executing a warrant to search Ye’s Google account, the investigators read the document, which Ye said is a work of fiction, but officers called a manifesto. Police said Ye wrote about targeting his former elementary school because “little kids make easier targets.”

    According to police, Ye also wrote that he wanted to become a serial killer instead of a mass murderer because serial killers are romanticized a lot more.

    On March 6, Ye was hospitalized and the medical staff later notified police and the FBI Baltimore Field Office with concerns that Ye posed a threat.

    The school’s psychologist spoke with FBI agents, noting that Ye was fixated on and spoke about committing school shootings, Jones said.

    Police got a warrant to search Ye’s home on March 21 and recovered an iPhone, iPad and laptop. Messages on social media revealed interest in the Columbine shooting and similar school shootings.

    Drawings depicting shootings were found on the iPhone and searches on Ye’s iPad, cellphone and computer revealed searches for 2023 mass shootings, Sandy Hook, Parkland shooting shooter sentence and what counts as a terroristic threat.

    The warrant for Ye’s arrest was issued March 16 and carried out March 17.

    Sobering but not catastrophic

    Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich noted the difficulty Ye faced in getting a gun.

    “Maryland has some of the strictest gun laws, and this may be a helpful thing that he found there are gun laws and impediments to getting armed,” Elrich said.

    Elrich also said he hoped this incident would lead to more investments in the mental health of young people.

    Many officials noted the proximity to the 25th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting.

    “I just think it’s eerie in its own right, particularly that this is the 25th anniversary of Columbine, coming up,” Jones said.

    Several other members of the conference noted the date as well and were thankful that, in this case, a shooting was prevented.

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    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Christopher Thomas

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