Two teens killed in planned park fight shooting near Winston-Salem school

Two teenage boys were killed and five other teenagers were wounded when a planned fight at Leinbach Park in Winston-Salem turned into a shooting just after 10 a.m., sending shock through a neighborhood where children were still in school nearby.

Winston-Salem police said two juveniles had agreed to meet at the park to fight, and the confrontation escalated when a firearm was discharged. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said several people were shot, including two who died. Police said they had identified numerous people involved, but investigators were still working to determine each person’s exact role, whether as suspect, victim or witness.

Local reporting identified the two teenagers who died as boys ages 16 and 17. Five others were injured, including four teen girls ages 14, 15, 17 and 19, and one 18-year-old boy. The scene unfolded at Leinbach Park, near Jefferson Middle School, in a suburban residential area northwest of downtown Winston-Salem, a city of about 250,000.

The shooting immediately disrupted the school day. Jefferson Middle School and Mount Tabor High School were placed on secure hold as a precaution, and school officials said counselors would be available for students the following day. Police also told parents they could pick up Jefferson Middle School students at the school, as officers and school officials tried to keep more students from being exposed to the violence and any retaliation it could trigger.

The case highlights how quickly a dispute among young people can become a deadly public safety crisis when guns enter the picture. A planned fight, a public park and a neighborhood school network collided in a matter of minutes, leaving families to confront not just the loss of two teenagers, but the larger breakdowns that allowed the encounter to escalate in the first place.