Teen Arrested in School Bus Stop Shooting: BSO

A high school student was grazed in the neck by a bullet near Watkins Elementary School in Pembroke Park Friday morning, officials said.

A West Park teenager has been arrested for shooting at a group of students Friday morning at a school bus stop in Pembroke Park, authorities said.

The 17-year-old suspect was attempting to shoot at a boy who was walking toward the bus stop in the area of Southwest 52nd Avenue south of Hallandale Beach Boulevard, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office. He fired at least four shots, one of which grazed Makeda Elliott, 17, of Pembroke Park in the neck, the BSO said.

Elliott, who attends Hallandale Beach High School, was waiting for her school bus near Watkins Elementary School in Pembroke Park, officials said.

The suspect was taken into custody at Hallandale Beach High School and will face charges that include premeditated attempted murder and shooting at an occupied dwelling, according to the BSO.

Deputies received the call about the shooting at 6:39 a.m.

“I heard full gunshots like pah-pah-pah coming from here, so everybody started running,” said Fabian Lively, who is a friend of the victim.

Elliott called her father following the shooting and he took her to Jackson North Medical Center, authorities said. From there she was taken to Ryder Trauma Center where she was treated for non-life-threatening injuries before being released.

No one else was injured, the BSO said.

Lively said Elliott is an outstanding student and athlete.

"She was a good girl, she had good grades, she was on the track team and she was in a fashion show,” Lively said.

The elementary school had not yet opened for the day at the time of the shooting.

Parents dropping off their children at school were shocked at the news.

"Oh wow, that's never happened her before," said Grace Gee, a mother of two Watkins students. "Police officers, they circle here every day, so I don't know how that could have happened."

Many expressed concern for the victim and her family while worrying for their own kids.

"My heart really goes out to the family because I’m sure this morning when the parent sent their child to school they expected to see them this evening without something like this happening," mother Lilieth Eookan said. "It makes me think that it could be my child."

Meanwhile, they said they are trying to figure out how to explain the incident to their elementary school-aged children.

"I'll tell them that you have to really, really be careful," Gee said. "That's because it's really not safe anywhere anymore."

No one came to the door when NBC 6 went to Elliott's apartment Friday afternoon, but those who know the Hallandale Beach High student said she couldn't have been the intended target.

"She's a nice girl, she never would do anything to anybody," Lively said.

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