The two teenagers shot Wednesday afternoon in El Cerrito are students at Albany High School, according to a letter the school's principal distributed Thursday. Below is Ted Barone's message in its entirety:
To the Albany High School Community,
Yesterday afternoon after the high school was out for the day (we are in early dismissal due to final exam schedule), three of our students, including one freshman and two sophomores, were sitting near the BART tracks near Fairmount Drive in El Cerrito.
What we understand is that they were approached by two men who asked about their shoes. When one of our students stood up, one of the men pulled out a gun and shot the student, injuring him critically. Another one of our students was also shot in the face, but thankfully received just a flesh wound.
The other student was able to escape without physical injury. The assailants escaped.
I spoke with the parents of all three students last night and this morning. The young man who was injured critically is still in the hospital and his mother describes his condition as stable.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the families as they recover from this awful incident. We'll do our best to keep everyone informed as the situation evolves.