A Thomas S. Wootton High School student was shot on campus Monday, Montgomery County Police said.

Officers were dispatched to the Rockville campus around 2:15 p.m., police said. The victim was taken to a local hospital in stable condition.

The suspect, also a student, was taken into custody. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are assisting police in the investigation.

Parents were told to go to Robert Frost Middle School to reunite with their children.

Rockville City Council member Adam Van Grack said he texted his son, a student at Wootton, immediately after he heard about the shooting. His sophomore did not know why his school had locked down.

“Communicating with him in real time was about as emotional as it gets as a parent — knowing that there’s a specific incident happening, and you don’t know if your son’s gonna be safe,” said the council member, who congregated with other parents on a corner near the school, waiting to reunite with their children.

“This is a great neighborhood. This is a great community. This does not happen here,” said Ron Cook, another father waiting to pick up his sophomore. He added that he would now consider sending his son to a private school or homeschooling him.

Montgomery County Council President Natali Fani-González said she was heartbroken by the shooting and eager for a complete investigation.

“Guns have no place in our schools,” she said.

Metal detectors?

Superintendent Thomas Taylor has said the district needs to invest more in campus safety. His latest budget proposal includes $1.7 million to pay for additional school-based security staffing.

Montgomery County Public Schools do not have metal detectors, a policy decision that may be raised again in the wake of this shooting.

About a year ago, a group of parents started an online petition asking for metal detectors in all middle and high school buildings.

“We have metal detectors to protect the president. We have metal detectors to protect the senators. ... Why not at the schools?” a mother, who declined to give her name, said Monday as she waited with other parents to reunite with their children.

The debate over whether high schools should be equipped with a weapons-detection system has raged for years across districts nationwide. Some worry about the cost and that it could make students feel as if they are going to school inside a prison.

Others argue that the system could save lives.

In 2018, MCPS officials researched the costs associated with installing metal detectors in schools. They referenced the experience of the Los Angeles Unified School District, which found that “the metal detection system was ineffective compared to other security measures and had a negative impact on school climate.”

Gun violence statewide

Shootings inside school buildings remain rare in Maryland.

Here is a recent history of incidents in the state:

• In Glen Burnie last week, a 7-year-old boy accidentally shot himself in the finger while in a classroom. A man who lives with the child’s mother was charged with allowing a minor access to a gun.
• A 16-year-old Harford County boy fatally shot a 15-year-old fellow student in a Joppatowne High School bathroom in 2024.
• At Baltimore’s Frederick Douglass High School in 2019, a staff member was shot and injured by the family member of a student in the school lobby.
• In 2018, a 16-year-old girl was killed at Great Mills High School in St. Mary’s County after her ex-boyfriend shot her.
• In Montgomery County, families were shaken by a shooting in 2022 at Magruder High School. A 17-year-old student used a ghost gun to shoot a 15-year-old boy inside of a campus restroom. He was severely injured.

This is a developing story.

Banner reporters Liz Bowie and Jack Hogan contributed to this story.