Gunshots erupted during a high school football game in California’s Central Valley on Friday night, sending spectators scrambling and forcing officials to halt the contest with minutes remaining.
The shooting occurred just before 9:30 p.m. In Manteca, a city in San Joaquin County, during a matchup between Manteca High School and Cesar Chavez High School. Officers already assigned to the game determined the firearm discharged near the school’s gym following what police described as a “physical altercation” between individuals outside the stadium.
No one was struck by the gunfire, authorities confirmed. Investigators recovered bullet casings at the scene.
Derek Graves, head football coach at Cesar Chavez High School, was on the field when the chaos began. “I was in the middle of a play, and then we heard one gunshot,” Graves told ABC10. “Then the second shot went off and people from their side started running this way. So, people reacted and people started running away from the shot that, where they expected shots were.”
The game was called off with approximately four minutes left in the fourth quarter and Manteca leading 29-7. Graves said he supported the decision to end the contest early. “When something like that happens, it’s, you know, I support that decision,” he said. “We were down, you know, they got the victory.”
Manteca Mayor Gary Singh addressed the incident in a written statement. “The Manteca Police Department is glad that nobody was injured and proud of the response by the officers on scene and the responding patrol officers,” he wrote.
Law enforcement later detained three individuals in connection with the shooting, officials said.
Sergeant Steven Beermann of the Manteca Police Department emphasized the department’s commitment to security at local sporting events. “I’d like to let the community know that the police department takes these football games serious,” Beermann told ABC 10. “We had significant officers on scene to handle any problems … So I think the threat to the greater community was mitigated by the amount of officers that we dedicated to make sure people were going to be safe during this football game.”
The Manteca incident came weeks after a fatal shooting at another California high school football game in Bakersfield, where 17-year-old Levi Brown, a promising former quarterback, was killed. That shooting sent players and fans fleeing from the scene, and a 15-year-old male was arrested the following day on murder charges.
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