To comfort parents, Principal David Brown sent a recorded phone message to all parents and staff on Oct. 19 about the shooting the Friday before that put the school on lockdown for around 10 minutes.

The Tampa Police Department released more information about the incident the same day. All directly involved are Robinson students, according to Brown.

The shooting occurred in apartment complex Arbor Flats, which is 0.3 miles from campus, just after two young females had gotten into a premeditated altercation. When the incident ended, a 16-year-old male, who hid his face with a ski mask, shot the 17-year-old female involved in it as she was walking away, hitting her in the back. The male is related to the other young woman who recently assaulted the victim. Shortly after this occurred, Tampa Police Officers were summoned to the complex around 8:40 a.m.

The victim, who was taken in critical condition to a local hospital, survived her trauma. According to witnesses at the incident, the dispute stemmed from the male buying marijuana from the victim on another occasion using a counterfeit $100 bill. The victim and a friend approached Jones about the counterfeit currency the day before the shooting, on Oct. 13 and engaged in physical combat with him. The following day, a young relative of Jones requested the victim to meet her at their apartment building.

“He confessed to the shooting,” Police Chief Mary O’Connor said in a press release on Oct. 20. “He is now 16 years old and his life is forever changed.”

Brown was thankful in the voicemail for how TDP quickly worked on the case and kept the school up to date. He also shared that none of the students have been on campus since the investigation began last Friday.

“Please remember that the safety of our students and staff is always going to be our top priority,” Brown said in his message. “We thank Tampa Police Department for their quick actions.”