The 15-year-old boy fatally shot outside a Providence high school Wednesday afternoon was an innocent bystander hit by a stray bullet, and his alleged killer is in custody, authorities said Thursday.
During a news conference, city officials identified the victim as William Parsons, a student at Central High School, which is located near the Providence Career & Technical Academy. Parsons was shot outside the academy shortly before 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Police said Thursday that the alleged suspect accidentally shot himself in the leg while fleeing the scene. The juvenile suspect is being treated at a city hospital and now faces a murder charge, officials said.
Police did not identify the 16-year-old suspect because of his age.
“This is a senseless, senseless tragedy,” Providence Mayor Jorge O. Elorza said during the news conference. “It’s all of our worst nightmares.”
The violence unfolded at 1:53 p.m. outside the career and technical academy, when a fight broke out and the suspect fired one shot before fleeing on foot, said Providence police Colonel Hugh T. Clements Jr., chief of the department.
Clements confirmed that Parsons, whom he described as a “15-year-old student from Central,” was a bystander and not involved in the initial fight. Central had dismissed students early Wednesday, but the academy wasn’t scheduled to let out for another 4o minutes or so, officials said.
“A truly innocent young man [had] his life taken from him,” Clements said.
At 2:38 p.m., a second shooting was reported on nearby Sprague Street, the chief said. He said a juvenile, later identified as the murder suspect, initially told police someone else shot him and described a vehicle that he claimed had been involved in the attack.
However, police determined that the youth shot himself by accident, and investigators later recovered the gun at Westfield and Fuller streets, Clements said.
Two spent shell casings were also found, he said, which were “consistent with” two shots being fired, one at the murder scene and another when the suspect accidentally wounded himself.
City Public Safety Commissioner Steven M. Pare said investigators were working to determine what touched off the initial fight outside the career and technical academy. He said officials are “confident that that gun never entered any of our schools.”
As the investigation continues, Pare said, police will seek additional charges if they’re warranted.
Elorza said there will be an “expanded police presence” Thursday and Friday at the three high schools in the vicinity of the killing, and counseling services will be available to students and staff.
“We want to reassure people through this police presence that they are safe at school,” Elorza said. “And our responsibility, our job right now, is to come together as a family to support the victim’s family, to support the school family, and to support the entire city family.”
It wasn’t clear Thursday morning when the suspect would be released from the hospital for arraignment.
“The Providence Police Department will be working on this and working overtime to make sure that we get to the bottom of this,” Elorza said.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.