By Eric M. Johnson
(Reuters) - A woman was fatally shot on the grounds of a Maryland high school on Thursday during a "domestic-related" altercation with a man who left the scene after also shooting a bystander who tried intervene on the woman's behalf, police said.
The Prince George's County Police Department said the "domestic-related homicide" occurred after 4:30 p.m. local time at High Point High School in the community of Beltsville, Maryland, about 15 miles northeast of Washington.
Police Chief Henry Stawinski told an evening news conference that the deceased female and gunman "aren't strangers to one another," and that the injured man had tried to intervene in the altercation between the woman and the gunman when he was shot.
Police said they were actively looking for the male suspect after the incident, which occurred after the normal school day had ended and students were heading to after-class activities.
Neither the victims nor the suspect were identified by police.
Kevin Maxwell, chief executive officer of Prince George's County Public Schools, told reporters that no students were directly involved or harmed during the incident, though a number of them had witnessed portions of the shooting.
Other students, he said, were told to remain inside as the school was placed on lockdown.
The extent of the bystander's injuries was not immediately clear, though a local NBC affiliate reported that the man, in his 40s, suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was in good condition at an area hospital.
Photos posted online by local media showed police and fire vehicles and officials in a crowded parking lot near the school's auditorium.
A witness told local broadcaster FOX 5 that he heard four gunshots echo from the school's back parking lot.
(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by David Gregorio and Cynthia Osterman)