'Deeply Unsettling Day': Wootton School Shooting Injures Student

ROCKVILLE, MD — One student is in custody and another was hospitalized after a shooting Monday at Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville, authorities said.

“Today is a heartbreaking and deeply unsettling day for our entire community," Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Thomas Taylor said during a news conference Monday night. "The kids and our staff are emotionally exhausted and understandably traumatized by today’s events.”

Officers with the Montgomery County Police Department and the City of Rockville responded to the high school at about 2:15 p.m. for reports of shots fired, as the school was put under lockdown.

The Montgomery County Police Department said in a news release that one student was found in a hallway inside the school suffering from a single gunshot wound. The suspect was identified as another student, who was arrested near the school grounds.

The injured student is in stable condition, police said.

Both the shooter and victim were 16-year-old boys, Rockville Police Chief Jason West told reporters in a question-and-answer session that followed the press conference, shared on X by Montgomery Community Media reporter Maryam Shahzad. The gun had not been recovered as of Monday night and the motive remained under investigation, West told reporters.

Wootton does have a community engagement officer, but the officer was attending to an issue at Lakewood Elementary School at the time of the shooting, West said in the video shared by Shahzad, in which Taylor noted the school system is piloting AI weapons detection at three of its high schools.

Wootton High School Shooting News Conference#MCPNews #MCPD @MCPS @RockvilleCityPD pic.twitter.com/vOT76EYArc
— Montgomery County Department of Police (@mcpnews) February 10, 2026

Police say there is no further threat to public safety.

Montgomery County police said students were being released from the school around 4:40 p.m. All students were being redirected to Robert Frost Middle School at 9201 Scott Drive for reunification with parents and guardians.

In an interview with Fox 5, Rockville Mayor Monique Ashton stressed the lockdown remained in place past 4 p.m. as Montgomery County Public School officials sought to ensure that "everything is secure."

"The first priority is safety," she said.

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said in a statement he was aware of the shooting and that he was in communication with MCPS, City of Rockville and the Montgomery County Police Department.

"Our thoughts are with the Wootton students, faculty, and their families during this distressing time," he said. "Incidents like this are frightening for all involved."

Montgomery County Council President Natali Fani-González said in a statement the incident underscores "it is paramount that we remain focused on addressing the gun violence in our community. Guns have no place in our schools."

Parents who spoke with Fox 5 expressed frustration over the incident, saying the situation proved especially stressful as school policy prevents students from using their cellphones during instructional time.

All roads leading to the school were closed on Monday.

Students who ride a bus were to take their regular routes home. Parents of bus riders were asked not to come to the high school, officials said on Facebook.

Wootton will be open on Tuesday, according to a city news release.