Mo. school steps up security after teen shot in parking lot

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. (AP) -- Security was stepped up at a suburban St. Louis high school Monday after a fight broke out after a dance contest and a teen was shot in the parking lot over the weekend.

Classes resumed without incident at Pattonville High School on Monday, following the Friday night shooting, Maryland Heights police said.

The 16-year-old victim was shot in the back near the spine but was expected to survive, police said. They continued to look for the suspected shooter, described as a 21-year-old man with no fixed address.

Neither the victim nor the suspected shooter was a Pattonville student, said principal Jeff Marion. However, a dozen Pattonville students were told to stay home from school until their role in the fight is determined.

School officials said they added extra police officers, locked doors except for the main entrance and chose not to issue hall passes for students.

The shooting occurred during an annual event for eight high school dance teams from the area. More than 1,000 people attended the event.

Authorities said toward the end of the contest, two large groups of students stood up and began yelling at each other. Officials ended the event early and ordered students to leave.

In the parking lot, a fight among 15 students broke out, with about 70 students watching, police said. One to three shots were fired from a gun that police think was retrieved from a car and had not been brought into the school.

Officials initially kept hundreds of people in the gym until police cleared the scene outside.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch: www.stltoday.com