Shots fired incident in New Kensington prompts shutdown of Valley High School

A shots fired incident in New Kensington on Tuesday afternoon has prompted the New Kensington-Arnold School District to close Valley High School on Wednesday.

The district announced the cancellation of high school classes only Tuesday night. There was no public discussion and it had not been mentioned at a school board meeting that evening.

“Unidentified juveniles fled the scene and have not yet been identified,” the district’s notice said. “Due to the uncertainty surrounding this incident, school for Valley High School students has been cancelled for tomorrow.”

District Superintendent Chris Sefcheck said students will not be virtual or remote on Wednesday because it was “too late to put something together.”

Asked why the shots fired incident about a mile away in Proctor Alley would affect the school the next day, Sefcheck said, “We just wanted to make sure that all of our high school kids were cleared and enough safeguards were put into place for any carry over.”

At the time of the shooting, New Kensington police officers were already in the area, at an unrelated call about a half-block away on Kenneth Avenue, when they heard five to eight shots from a handgun, according to Detective Sgt. Sam Long.

The officers responded to the area and chased a suspect for about five minutes before he disappeared, likely into one of the houses, Long said.

No victims were found and nobody was injured, he said.

Police Chief Robert Deringer said late Tuesday officers recovered five shell casings from the area. They also checked with local hospitals and found no one showed up with gunshot wounds around the time of the incident.

The suspect is a light-skinned Black male in his late teens to early 20s and was dressed in all black, according to Long.

Police left the scene about 3:30 p.m.

Anyone with information is asked to call the New Kensington Police Department at 724-339-7533.