15-Year-Old Arrested in Deadly Bakersfield Football Game Shooting

A 17-year-old boy was shot and killed at a high school football game in Bakersfield, California, and police arrested a 15-year-old the next morning on suspicion of murder.

The gunfire broke out shortly after 8 p.m. on Friday, August 21, inside the gates of the stadium at Independence High School, south of the field, while the season opener was being played. Officers found the 17-year-old with gunshot wounds and took him to Kern Medical, where he died. He has not been publicly named.

Police picked up the boy on Saturday morning in the 7500 block of Stockdale Highway, several miles from the school. He was held on suspicion of murder, firearm-related offenses and participating in a criminal street gang. Prosecutors have not announced a charging decision.

What Police Say Set It Off

Investigators say the killing started as a fight. The Bakersfield Police Department said the shooting grew out of an altercation between a group of people, not a random attack on the crowd. The department later said the victim and the suspect knew each other.

Neither the 17-year-old nor the 15-year-old attended Independence High. Both were at the game, but they were not students there. The school was hosting Centennial High for the first matchup of the year, one of dozens of season openers happening across Kern County that same night.

Officers from the Kern High School District, the Bakersfield Police Department, and the Kern County Sheriff's Office all responded to the campus after the reports of gunfire came in. Police released a photo of the arrest showing the back of the handcuffed teenager as an officer patted him down.

What is still missing is the rest of the picture. Police have not said what led them to the 15-year-old, whether the weapon has been recovered, or whether anyone else was involved.

"Two young lives and two families have been forever changed by an act of violence, and we extend our compassion to everyone affected by this tragedy," the department said in a statement.

Seven or Eight Shots, Then a Run for the Exits

The game stopped within seconds of the first shots, and the stands emptied.

Roughly seven or eight shots were fired, according to a KGET photojournalist who was covering the game. Some families ducked behind the bleachers. Others sprinted straight out of the stadium.

The field was cleared and the game was called off. Sirens filled the parking lot as a heavy police presence moved in. On social media, parents told each other to check on their kids, and live feeds showed the lot swarmed with patrol cars.

That same night, players at Bakersfield Christian High School and Faith Lutheran High School stopped to pray together at halftime of their own game once word spread about what had happened at Independence.

A Second Teen Killed That Same Friday Night

Cameron Frierson, 16, was shot and killed in Nashville later that same night, after a different high school football game.

Frierson was walking along Herman Street near 25th Avenue North just after 10:30 p.m. when someone in a white sedan with tinted windows opened fire, Metro Nashville Police said. He was hit multiple times and taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he died.

He had gone to watch the game at Pearl-Cohn High School. His own school, Hunters Lane High, did not play that night. By the time the shooting happened, the game was over and most of the crowd had cleared out.

His younger brother was walking right next to him. The two had just passed Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, near the school, when the shots rang out.

"He Was Truly Being a Kid"

Cameron's parents, Chris and Brittany Frierson, spoke publicly and asked the shooter to turn himself in.

"He was not involved in the street. He did not have anything to do with that type of lifestyle. He was truly being a kid," his mother said. She described a junior who worked two jobs to buy his own back-to-school clothes, and said Friday was his only night off that week. He had been looking forward to the game for days.

"He was standing right next to him when the shots went off," Brittany said of her younger son. "He took off running and when he came back, Cameron was on the ground."

The family believes Cameron did not know anyone in the car. Police have not released a motive. The Youth Peace & Justice Foundation, a national group also known as the Uvalde Foundation for Kids, offered up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest.

His family wants him remembered for his work ethic and for the way he looked after his six siblings. His school called him an upstanding student.

Gunfire Reported at Another California Game

The Bakersfield killing was not the only scare in California that Friday. In South Los Angeles, spectators at a game between the San Pedro Pirates and King/Drew stampeded onto the field after people heard what sounded like a gunshot near the field house. The game was being played on the campus of L.A. Southwest College.

That game was cut short too. San Pedro had taken a 20-6 lead seconds before the panic. King/Drew head coach Joe Torres said the two teams might meet again later to finish out the clock.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies took the call at 8:52 p.m. and found no shooting victims and no evidence that any shots had been fired. One woman was hurt as the crowd dispersed. Two scares on the opening weekend of the high school football season put a spotlight on security at scholastic sporting events across the state.

What the Schools Are Doing Now

Kern High School District Superintendent Dr. Michael Zulfa said district police and campus staff moved in right after the gunfire to protect students and spectators and to help first responders.

"Friday night should have been an evening of school spirit, friendship, and community," Zulfa said. He said the district is working closely with police and will review the circumstances around the shooting. He also urged families to sit down and talk with their kids.

Counseling was set up on both coasts. Discovery Church, at 7103 White Lane in Bakersfield, said it would team up with its counseling center on Wednesday, August 26, to support any student affected. In Nashville, Metro schools said grief counseling would be available when classes resumed Monday.

The Bakersfield case is the one with an arrest. A 15-year-old is in custody on suspicion of murder, no charges have been filed, and the 17-year-old he is accused of killing has not yet been publicly identified. In Nashville, the search for a white sedan with tinted windows is still open, and the person who shot Cameron Frierson has not been caught.