A 16-year-old student at REACH! Partnership School was grazed by a bullet during an off-campus shooting Wednesday afternoon, Baltimore Police said.

An employee at a BP gas station near the school said he saw a group of students at a bus stop near the business. Two or three students started fighting, he said, and one of them shot a gun.

The boy returned to the campus after the shooting, and officers found him around 3:50 p.m. with a non-life threatening graze wound to his body, according to Baltimore City Public Schools spokesperson Sherry Christian. He was treated by paramedics and taken to an area hospital.

In a statement Wednesday night, Mayor Brandon Scott said he’s “deeply disturbed” by increases in teenage gun violence. The 16-year-old student is the 36th high school-age teen shot in the city since Jan. 1. In 2022, 114 teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 were shot.

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“As a leader, it is my responsibility to take action to protect our youth from violence,” he said. “My office is committed to intervening directly with our young people and attacking the flow of illegal guns onto our streets.”

Authorities have seized 398 guns this year, the mayor said.

Scott also pointed to a pilot violence-intervention program that was launched at three city high schools. But he called on coaches, community organizations, faith leaders, schools, and other groups to help mentor young people.

“It is important to acknowledge that while we have programs and partners in place, there is much more work to be done to ensure the safety of our young people,” he said. “We must all come together as a community to tackle youth violence.”

cadence.quaranta@thebaltimorebanner.com