Shooting at Blake

[Anonymous]

Confirming that the 19 year old was a former Blake HS student. Hence why he was at the school to pick up a friend. He has ties to the Blake community and is known by many seniors.

Furthermore, the gun likely belonged to the student was shot. Which might mean he had the gun on him while he was in school.

Another thing: apparently the principal has been allowing students to eat lunch in their cars in the parking lot. So the reason why the kids were congregating in the parking lot was because the principal has been allowing them to spend lunch there. That seems like a really bone-headed call for him to have made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Confirming that the 19 year old was a former Blake HS student. Hence why he was at the school to pick up a friend. He has ties to the Blake community and is known by many seniors.

Furthermore, the gun likely belonged to the student was shot. Which might mean he had the gun on him while he was in school.

Another thing: apparently the principal has been allowing students to eat lunch in their cars in the parking lot. So the reason why the kids were congregating in the parking lot was because the principal has been allowing them to spend lunch there. That seems like a really bone-headed call for him to have made.

He didn't have the gun.

[Anonymous]

Someone needs to make some kind of MCPS zero tolerance policy for vaping, weapons, fighting, horrible behavior, etc. Zero tolerance, kid is expelled.

Don't know if it's possible, but the current status of so much is beyond insane and completely unacceptable

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Confirming that the 19 year old was a former Blake HS student. Hence why he was at the school to pick up a friend. He has ties to the Blake community and is known by many seniors.

Furthermore, the gun likely belonged to the student was shot. Which might mean he had the gun on him while he was in school.

Another thing: apparently the principal has been allowing students to eat lunch in their cars in the parking lot. So the reason why the kids were congregating in the parking lot was because the principal has been allowing them to spend lunch there. That seems like a really bone-headed call for him to have made.

He didn't have the gun.

Who didn't have the gun?

[Anonymous]

And confirming what I just posted, MCPD just confirmed they are charging a Blake HS student with the gun possession charge: https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/news/seventeen-year-old-facing-gun-charges

A Blake High School student has been charged following a fight and shooting in the school’s parking lot.

Seventeen-year-old Taric Wilson of Silver Spring has been charged with first-degree assault, reckless endangerment, possession of a dangerous weapon on school property, carrying a loaded handgun, and felony use of a firearm in the commission of a violent crime.

The charges stem from an incident that occurred on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in the parking lot of Blake High School.

Montgomery County Police detectives determined that Wilson exchanged words with several other teenage males before a fight began. During the altercation, Wilson was seen holding a handgun as another teen attempted to take it from him. The firearm discharged during the struggle, and the individuals involved began to run from the area.

Montgomery County Public Schools security officers who witnessed the fight approached the group. One security officer observed the handgun and gave commands for Wilson to drop it. The gun was placed on the ground near the officer, but the fight continued.

At that point, 19-year-old Djibia Gombo of Silver Spring picked up the firearm and began to walk away. A second security officer gave commands for Gombo to drop the weapon. Gombo allegedly pointed the handgun at the officer before placing it on the ground.

Gombo was taken into custody at the scene by Montgomery County Police and charged with first-degree assault.

Wilson and the other individuals involved in the fight got into a car and drove him to an area hospital, where he was treated for gunshot wounds to his foot and knee.

This remains an active investigation.

Wilson is currently being held in Washington, D.C., where he is awaiting extradition to Maryland.

[Anonymous]

So Wilson fled to DC after he was treated at the hospital in White Oak? How did that happen? Shouldn't he have been prevented from leaving the state while he was being treated at the hospital?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone needs to make some kind of MCPS zero tolerance policy for vaping, weapons, fighting, horrible behavior, etc. Zero tolerance, kid is expelled.

Don't know if it's possible, but the current status of so much is beyond insane and completely unacceptable

I don't think that's likely, but I do strongly believe in more utilization for alternative placements for kids who exhibit such dangerous behaviors. We need a Mark Twain-style alternative school to put such children. And they can return to their home schools if they complete a successful rehabilitation and restorative plan or treatment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone attend the community meeting?

Yeah. Would be good to hear from folks that did.

I am a Blake parent who spoke with another Blake parent last night who attended the meeting. They said that a large part of the meeting was about mental health resources and support which is not really the number one topic that people want to hear about. She said Taylor wasn’t there because of the board meeting. Marcus Jones was not at Blake and was also not at the board meeting, so not sure where he was. I don’t think we’ve heard from him yet. After the mental health resources, the principal spoke and Peter Moran spoke. She said Peter Moran actually did pretty well. She said the principal was pretty straight up and kind of just said that there’s only so much that he can control. They allowed audience members to write down questions on cards, which I guess they selectively read through and answered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So Wilson fled to DC after he was treated at the hospital in White Oak? How did that happen? Shouldn't he have been prevented from leaving the state while he was being treated at the hospital?

He was transported to a trauma center in DC from White Oak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So Wilson fled to DC after he was treated at the hospital in White Oak? How did that happen? Shouldn't he have been prevented from leaving the state while he was being treated at the hospital?

He was transported to a trauma center in DC from White Oak.

Ah got it. That makes more sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does the food deliveries have to do with the shooting? Was the shooter a food delivery driver? (That would just seem so unlikely...).

I have had kids at two different schools with open lunch and I VERY much hope they don't cancel open lunch. It would be an utter sh*t show to try to feel all those kids in the overcrowded building. Being able to exit the building to get food is a really important part of being able to focus for afternoon classes for many kids.

I don't know what happened today, but basically every time one of these shootings has happened, it has been some beef from the community where someone came to find the teen at school because they knew that's where to find them. Of course, I'm sure these kids aren't crack shots, so even when it's that kind of situation, there's always a good chance that they will hit someone other than the intended victim.

Someone asked what SROs could do -- one of the goals of the SRO program was to be tapped into the school community so that if some student became aware that a beef was brewing, they could alert the SRO who could then just happen to be present at the right time/place to avert the issue. Of course, this didn't happen 100% of the time, but it did happen at least sometimes --- and the public never heard about the fights that didn't happen because an SRO was standing there in the right place at the right time. Of course, gun control would be the most effective way to minimize school shootings, but the Supreme Court has said we can't have that in this country.

Also, the current ID system is a joke. I don't know how hard it would be to install ID readers at the entrances to all the high schools, like what most people have at their offices now. So even if you are going out to a portable, you would have to swipe to get back into the building.

Instead of prohibiting kids from eating lunch outside, why not work on better security measures to prevent randos from coming on campus to start fights with students?

Oops
Student was the one with the gun.

yeah just saw that....oops is right. I didn't believe the "it wasn't my gun" story but guess he was telling the truth about that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone attend the community meeting?

Yeah. Would be good to hear from folks that did.

I am a Blake parent who spoke with another Blake parent last night who attended the meeting. They said that a large part of the meeting was about mental health resources and support which is not really the number one topic that people want to hear about. She said Taylor wasn’t there because of the board meeting. Marcus Jones was not at Blake and was also not at the board meeting, so not sure where he was. I don’t think we’ve heard from him yet. After the mental health resources, the principal spoke and Peter Moran spoke. She said Peter Moran actually did pretty well. She said the principal was pretty straight up and kind of just said that there’s only so much that he can control. They allowed audience members to write down questions on cards, which I guess they selectively read through and answered.

Peter is good at public performances, so that's not surprising.

I'm surprised Marcus was not there.

What do you mean when the principal said there's only so much he can control? That sounds like a copout.

Where was MCPD? They should have been a part of this conversation as well.

Do you know if there was a lot of parents at the meeting? I hate to say it, but if you didn't get as many angry parents at Blake as the number of parents who showed up at BCC after their lockdown last year, then MCPS is going to continue to feel like they can get away with it at Blake in ways they don't at BCC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone attend the community meeting?

Yeah. Would be good to hear from folks that did.

I am a Blake parent who spoke with another Blake parent last night who attended the meeting. They said that a large part of the meeting was about mental health resources and support which is not really the number one topic that people want to hear about. She said Taylor wasn’t there because of the board meeting. Marcus Jones was not at Blake and was also not at the board meeting, so not sure where he was. I don’t think we’ve heard from him yet. After the mental health resources, the principal spoke and Peter Moran spoke. She said Peter Moran actually did pretty well. She said the principal was pretty straight up and kind of just said that there’s only so much that he can control. They allowed audience members to write down questions on cards, which I guess they selectively read through and answered.

I hope the discussion around "mental health services" was centered around kids who are stressed out worrying about gun violence at their school.

[Anonymous]

Interesting to reread Taylor’s initial comments now that we know the shooter, a Blake student, had the gun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone needs to make some kind of MCPS zero tolerance policy for vaping, weapons, fighting, horrible behavior, etc. Zero tolerance, kid is expelled.

Don't know if it's possible, but the current status of so much is beyond insane and completely unacceptable

I don't think that's likely, but I do strongly believe in more utilization for alternative placements for kids who exhibit such dangerous behaviors. We need a Mark Twain-style alternative school to put such children. And they can return to their home schools if they complete a successful rehabilitation and restorative plan or treatment.

We have an Alternative School…it is called Blair G. Ewing. While it separates offenders from the general ed schools, it generally has poor outcomes.