Sideline reporter recalls moments when shots rang out after high school football game in Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Public Schools announced several changes for Friday’s games after three teens were shot last night.

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PPS says spectators have to be 18 or older. No loitering is allowed outside of the stadium, and fans at Cupples Stadium have to stay in the stands.

“From the get-go, a lot of intense plays and typical chirping between teams, but nothing that I thought was going to end the way it did,” Rachel Zimmerman said.

Sideline reporter Rachel Zimmerman was interviewing a Westinghouse football player on the field Thursday night when gunfire erupted outside Cupples Stadium.

PHOTOS: Shooting after high school football game prompts large police investigation in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh police who were outside the stadium were trying to break up several fights after the game when the shots were fired. Police say after a man fired three shots, hitting two teen boys and a teen girl, he ran off.

Zimmerman says those still inside Cupples Stadium were placed into lockdown.

“They had to make sure all the cheerleaders, band, players, everybody on the sideline were taken into account, and you could see the trauma that these kids were experiencing and a lot of emotions,” she said.

Authorities are reviewing officers’ body camera videos to narrow down a specific description of the shooter. Zimmerman says once the adrenaline wore off, she felt the enormity of what had just happened.

“I think about my family at that time. As everybody did and people were watching it live. ... My parents were texting — is this OK, and you think about some of the parents who might not have been at the game watching this go down and seeing kids scatter throughout the field,” Zimmerman said.

Those three teens were taken to the hospital, where, at last check, they were in stable condition. Last night one person was questioned at headquarters after the shooting. Channel 11 reached out to Pittsburgh Police to see if there had been any arrests but did not hear back.

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