Mesquite park shooting leaves 2 young men injured

MESQUITE, Texas - Mesquite police are looking for suspects after a 17- and 18-year-old were shot in a park in the middle of the afternoon.

Police were called to City Lake Park near Gross Street and Galloway Avenue just before 2 p.m. Friday.

Witnesses say there was a group of young people gathered at the park before the shooting happened.

The crime scene caused three nearby schools to be put on a partial lockdown.

City Lake Park became a crime scene Friday afternoon after police say two young men were shot.

Terry Rippa heard the gunshots. He lives feet away from the park and says there was a group of young people gathering at the time of the shooting.

"They shot four or five times," he recalled. "Kids scattered."

The park is only a couple blocks away from Mesquite High School. That school and nearby Florence Black Elementary and Agnew Middle School were placed on a precautionary "secure," a kind of partial lockdown due to the nearby police activity. 

It’s unclear if anyone involved is a student, but police say the victims are believed to be former students.

"The two males are 17 and 18 years of age, and they are not current students at Mesquite High School," said Mesquite Police Lt. Michael Kelly.

The department did not say if weapons were recovered at the scene or what led to the shooting, but investigators may have leads.

"Officers were able to locate some witnesses to the shooting," Kelly said.

Young people at the park are never a surprise to Rippa.

"It wasn’t uncommon for them to be here. Not at all," he said. "I see them walk by, and sometimes they cut through the yard."

However, Rippa says it was very much a surprise for those young people to be involved in a shooting.

"I talked to a policeman out here earlier who said, ‘Why don’t these kids just have a fistfight?’ I said, "I agree with you,’" Rippa said.

Police have not announced any arrests or suspect information.