Police said victims, including young boy, were taken to hospital and no suspect had been arrested after shooting in Pleasantville

This article is more than 10 months old

This article is more than 10 months old

Players and spectators ran for cover Friday night when a gunman opened fire at a New Jersey high school football game, wounding two people.

One of the wounded was a young boy, who was airlifted to a children’s hospital in Philadelphia “with some serious injuries,” said Atlantic county prosecutor Damon Tyner.

Panicked spectators and some of the players knocked down a fence in their haste to escape the confines of the field.

“It was mayhem, literally people coming in waves running away” said Jonathan Diego, who played for the Pleasantville team in 1984.

“Unfortunately, around here it’s not as uncommon as it sounds,” said Diego.

He described a panicked scene as some children were separated from their parents, and other parents held babies and young children tight to keep them from being run over by fleeing spectators.

The shooting happened about 8.30pm during the third quarter of a playoff game between the Camden Panthers and the Pleasantville Greyhounds, said Pleasantville’s police chief, Sean Riggins.

Tyner, the prosecutor, told the Associated Press the shooting took place on the Pleasantville side of the bleachers. No one had been arrested as of late Friday, and authorities were investigating whether more than one shooter might have been involved.

Authorities did not identify shooting victims nor release information on their conditions other than to say both were alive several hours after the shooting. Diego said his friend, a retired paramedic, gave first aid to a young boy who had suffered a gunshot wound to the neck.

“He applied pressure to the little boy’s wounds on his neck, trying to slow down the bleeding until the ambulance could come up,” Diego said.

The boy was flown by helicopter to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The adult shooting victim was taken to AtlanticCare Regional Medical Center in nearby Atlantic City.

A statement from the Camden city school district said no Camden high school students “were injured or otherwise harmed”.

Pleasantville is about seven miles (11km) west of Atlantic City. Its high school team won its first division title in 43 years this season, and the stands were packed.

Videos obtained by the Associated Press show people hitting the ground, running from the bleachers and jumping over chain-link fences as gunfire sounds. At least six gunshots are audible in a video from Jersey Sports Zone, which also shows players stop mid-play, look at the stands and then turn and run.