Police searching for shooting suspect

GREEN BAY - A shooting on Green Bay's East side Thursday afternoon sent one man to the hospital, kept more than a thousand students in their classrooms, and has police still looking for the shooter.

It happened a little after 2:30 Thursday afternoon, on Crooks Street. Police say while the victim went inside to call 911 the shooter got away.

Thursday evening police presence in the area was lower than earlier in the day. Thursday afternoon they were canvassing the area, looking for the suspect. Police say the shooting appears to be random.

"We don't know if he hid someplace, if he got into a car, if he ran," said Lt. John Balza of the Green Bay Police Department.

Green Bay Police know one man was shot Thursday afternoon, what they don't know is who did it, and why.

"It seems like it was just a person was asking another person a question. Our victim didn't have the answer to that question and the suspect started shooting. So I guess if that's the way it truly went down I guess there is some concern for the community, that that's the way it went down," said Balza.

Police say the victim had never met the person who shot him. After police were contacted about the situation, they went into action.

"All I seen was cops coming down that road, blocking off the road very fast," said Roland Sears, who lives in the area. "I'd never seen that many cops move that fast and they were running and everything, getting out of their cars."

The neighborhood has been home to families and schools, becoming home to a crime scene left some who live there a bit on edge.

"It scares me. Even though I don't have any kids but to see something like this, kids not knowing what's going on, what could happen, and parents, it's gotta be very scary for them, and anybody around this neighborhood you would think would be scared. I know I am," said Sears.

Others say this makes them realize a shooting can happen anywhere, and they're looking forward to learning answers about it.

"I'm not too worried about it," said Mike Slattebo. "I mean it's startling that it happened so close but...I want to find out what happened. I'm sure we're all curious."

Police are still looking for the alleged shooter. He is described as a white man in his 20's, clean shaven with dark hair. He has an athletic build and was wearing a white hooded sweatshirt.

The victim was taken to the hospital Thursday afternoon. Police believe he is in serious condition with non-life-threatening injuries. Police also say St. Vincent hospital was on some level of lockdown Thursday afternoon.

Washington Middle School is less than a block away from where the shooting happened, and just a few blocks down the street from that is East High School. Both schools were on lockdown for about 45 minutes this afternoon. Students were let out of school about a half an hour later than usual, around 3:30. Parents were notified of the delay, and some were glad the schools took the precaution.

"The best thing for the school to do is to do exactly what they did. .So we get our kids a little bit later, at least they're safe," said Washington Middle School parent Jenny Laundrie.

"We try to update the kids as frequently as we can and give them whatever information I can give them at the time," said Ed Dorff, principal of East High School. "It's one of the few times where we're going to allow people to use their cell phones and texts because you know that they're going to want to do it, they're going to be doing it anyway. And families are going to be stressed so we want to make sure that whatever information we have we're giving the kids so that they can get that to their families as well."

Sullivan Elementary, which is also near East High, held back children who walk home from school earlier today. Howe Elementary had already dismissed classes, but some children were playing outside near the school, so officials brought them inside the school.

Police are still looking for the suspect in this shooting. If you have any information related to this shooting, they want to hear from you. You can reach the Green Bay Police Department at 920-448-3200.