Above: Brick Mayor John G. Ducey says police won't rest until shooter is caught.

BRICK — Hours after police searched the township for a suspect who shot a teenager near Brick Memorial High School, municipal officials were assuring residents that the shooter would be brought to justice.

"I received a call earlier (Tuesday), and that call caused fear to go through my body like I've never had before," Mayor John G. Ducey said during an impassioned speech to a crowd gathered in town hall.

Ducey said he rushed to Brick Memorial High School after he was told that there was a shooter at the school. Authorities later said the shooting happened about a ¼-mile from the high school. A 16-year-old victim, who was struck in the shoulder, ran back to the school for help, police said.

See Ducey discuss the situation in more detail in the video at the top of this story.

Authorities said the boy, who was not named, suffered a non-life threatening wound and was recovering at a hospital.

"It is totally unacceptable for a shooting to occur in our great community, especially in broad daylight, in front of kids just getting out of school or practicing football on the field," the mayor said. "Rest assured, the great men and women of this police department and Ocean County Prosecutor's Office are working tirelessly to make sure that whoever that (shooter) is pays for the terror that he gave every person in Brick, every parent in Brick, and most of all, every kid in Brick."

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Ducey said many of the students at nearby Lanes Mill Elementary School, which was on lockdown Tuesday after the shooting happened, cried when they were finally reunited with their parents.

The mayor called the suspect "scum" and said he would make sure Brick Police receive any resources needed to help in the investigation.

In recent weeks, a rash of violence in Brick had made media headlines: a drive-by shooting Saturday injured an 18-year-old, a taxi driver was robbed at knifepoint that same day, a Brick woman accused of killing her boyfriend sits in jail awaiting trial, and a Brick man allegedly participated in his father's murder.

Police Chief James Riccio, in a news release, said police were investigating whether Tuesday's shooting near the high school was related to Saturday's shooting, which happened about a block away from the high school in the Briar Mills neighborhood.

Worry brought Gerry C. Batocabe, who has lived in Brick for 25 years, to town hall on Tuesday. There, he urged the Town Council to quickly take action.

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"Something is happening," he said. "You have to do something."

A decade ago, Brick was routinely named one of the safest cities of its size in the nation, but Batocabe said that reputation was failing. He worried that people would begin to leave Brick and property values would drop if efforts weren't made to curb crime.

Between 2016 and 2018, not a single murder was reported in Brick, according to State Police Uniform Crime Reports. But already this year, police have investigated three separate murders here.

Batocabe said he believes Brick is facing a "downward spiral."

"Right now, the perception (here) is bad," he said.

On Wednesday, more than 1,500 people had signed an online petition calling on the mayor to announce a plan to curb the violence.

Brick shooting:Petition calls on mayor to announce a combat plan

Ducey said the town has hired more police since he took office — up from 125 to 142— and three more are being hired. He said the township's force is now the largest it has ever been.

Town officials have also re-engineered the police department's schedule to keep more officers on patrol instead of in headquarters and have stationed officers in two new areas of the township, the mayor said.

"We're going to continue to be out there (in the community) every single day, because that's what we're doing," he said. "We're protecting our great town of Brick... These guys (criminals) want to come into our town?... They're going to be leaving here in handcuffs."

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Amanda Oglesby is an Ocean County native who covers Brick, Barnegat and Lacey townships as well as the environment. She has worked for the Press for more than a decade. Reach her at @OglesbyAPP, aoglesby@gannettnj.com or 732-557-5701.