Five men have been charged in aFriday night shooting spree at a high schoolfootball game that left a child and an adult in critical condition with gunshot wounds.
Alvin Wyatt, 31, was charged with three counts of attempted murder and weapons charges in connection with the shooting in a game between Pleasantville and Camden high schools.
Four other men were also charged with weapons offenses from the incident, Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner said.
They are Michael Mack, 27, Tyrell Dorn, 28, Shahid Dixon, 27 – all of Atlantic City— and Vance Golden, 26, of Pleasantville.
Tyrell Dorn, 28, Shahid Dixon, 27, Michael Mack, 27, –All of Atlantic City— and Vance Golden, 26, were charged with weapons offenses in relation to the Pleasantville High School football shooting on Nov. 15, 2019.
Dixon is also charged with eluding. After the shooting, the four men fled in a vehicle from the Absecon police department into Atlantic City. One of the passengers threw a gun out of the vehicle while entering Atlantic City, authorities said.
Wyatt has two previous weapons charges. He was released from state prison a year ago this month after serving three years, six months for his last offense, according to state prison records.
A 27 – year-old male victim who was shot is in stable condition will be undergoing surgery.
A 10 – year-old shooting victim is in critical condition and a 15 – year old male suffered a graze wound and was treated at the hospital and released.
There was not much activity at the football field on Saturday morning.
A pair of police officers searched the home bleachers, before leaving during the mid-morning. Trash littered along the fence line, and some people had left behind blankets, sweatshirts, and chairs in the rush to leave the area Friday night.
Deanna Dixon and Kaitlyn Ancharski, attend nearby Oakcrest High School and were in the crowd Friday night.
“Everything was normal, everyone was just having a good time and then I heard four or five gunshots and people just started running,” Ancharski said.
With 4: 58 left in the third quarter when the shots echoed across the field, playing a football game instantly became the last thing on the mind of Keon Henry, a senior and wide receiver / defensive back at Pleasantville.
“At first, I thought it was firecrackers or something. Nobody really moved, but then it started going a little more and that’s when I saw everybody in the crowd start running, ”Henry said.
Gunfire erupted in the west end of the Pleasantville bleachers. Just a few yards away from the home team’s bench, a young boy and an older man were shot.
The brightness of the Friday night lights instantly turned to darkness.
“Coaches were telling us to get down, but we didn’t want to get down,” Henry recalled about an hour after the chaotic scene. “We wanted to get somewhere safe, so we ran up the hill, got through the fence and kept banging on the (locker room) door. They finally opened the door and we just had to find out if everyone was safe.
The Greyhounds were riding a seven-game winning streak and earned the No. 1 seed in the NJSIAA / Rothman Orthopaedics Central Jersey Group 2 playoffs.
A semifinal victory over visiting Camden would vault Pleasantville into next weekend’s sectional final. The program has never won a championship, falling short in its only two title games back in 1975 and ‘(*******************************************************************.
“The first time Pleasantville is about to do something big and … We’re just trying to make it to the state championship and thought everyone was coming out to just have a fun time. That didn’t happen. “
Henry’s father, Pete, was watching the game from a familiar spot on the hill beyond the end zone. Other family members were in the stands.
What transpired left him shaking his head, a wide range of emotions spinning through his head.
“I don’t know. It’s just sad that this happened, “he said.” We were on the brink of doing something big and this happened. I’m speechless.
“I’m pissed off. I’m angry and mad. I coached a lot of these kids as a youth football coach and to see them get here and do this for the city and then see this, it’s unfair. … It’s disappointing, it’s disgusting. It’s all of the above. “
It goes without saying those in the stadium will never forget this night.
“I just never thought this would happen at a high school football game,” the younger Henry said. “It makes me feel unsafe.”
Dixon said they, too, are now scared of attending football games in the future.
“The worst thing we expect to happen is for there to be a regular fight, but nothing like this,” Ancharski said.
Bill Duhart may be reached at[email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@ bduhart. Find(NJ.com on Facebook).Have a tip?Tell us.nj.com/tips.
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