An attempted shooting near a Hampden skate park ended with a chaotic arrest Monday afternoon as dozens of students departing a nearby high school for the day watched from the sidewalk.

Baltimore Police responded around 3 p.m. Monday to the northeast corner of Roosevelt Park, near Falls Road and West 36th Street, for a report of shots fired. Authorities believe the man who discharged his firearm was targeting an individual, who was not injured in the incident.

The incident took place just minutes before the Academy for College and Career Exploration, which is located just across the street from the park, dismissed approximately 900 middle and high school students for the day.

Sherry Christian, a spokeswoman for Baltimore City Public Schools, said the school went briefly into lockdown but released students about five minutes past the school’s normal end time after administrators learned the park was clear and there was no threat to students and staff.

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The Hampden Christian School, a private elementary school and day care located in the same block, was also releasing children around the same time.

Just after 3 p.m., officers placed evidence markers in the grass near the skate park and next to the Roosevelt Park Recreation Center, both of which are adjacent to Hampden’s bustling business district.

Young people departed the school grounds in crowds while concerned parents as well as several buses attempted to collect children, creating a logjam amid the multiple police vehicles clustered on 36th Street.

Minutes after the dismissal, the suspect in the shooting incident returned to the scene. Several police sprinted to the intersection of 36th and Falls Road and arrested a man on a scooter on suspicion of aggravated assault. One officer appeared to remove a firearm from the man’s possession as dozens of students watched.

This story may be updated.

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