WEST CHESTER — Chester County law enforcement authorities have not made any further arrests in what they have called a “targeted” attack on a person getting off a school bus in the Coatesville last week.
On Monday morning, District Attorney Chris deBarrena-Sarobe announced that investigators with the Coatesville Police Department and the Chester County Detectives “continued to investigate the bus shooting over the weekend. There are no new arrests to report.”
Those agencies are looking for three individuals of the four young men who shot at the school bus Thursday afternoon. Authorities have said they “have some good leads” as to the identity of the three still at large, but also urged the community to assist in identifying and locating them,
In addition, the Coatesville Area School District and local law enforcement are working together to provide enhanced security at the Coatesville Area High School and bus stops throughout the district, which includes Caln, Valley, West Brandywine and East Fallowfield.
“We continue to urge witnesses who have information to come forward by calling 610-384-2300,” said deBarrena-Sarobe.
Meanwhile, the single person who has been charged in the shooting, which did not result in any injuries but which led to shock among county residents, is being held at the Chester County Youth Detention Center on $1 million bail.
Jaki White-Marshall, 17, of Coatesville, was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Gregory Hines last week on 32 counts of aggravated assault with intent to cause serious bodily injury, reflecting the number of people — high school students and a Krapf School Bus Company driver – who were on board the school bus when the attack by four youths occurred.
White-Marshall, who was identified as a student at the high school, was also charged with 313 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, recklessly endangering another person, simple assault, disorderly conduct and conspiracy. DeBarrena-Sarobe has stated that he will be charged as an adult.
The Coatesville school superintendent, Catherine Van Vooren, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. The chief of Coatesville Area School Police, Frank Galbraith, also did not respond to requests for comment on the security procedures at the schools.
Here are the facts that are currently confirmed: The shooting happened around 2:30 p.m. Thursday after the high school let out for the day in the area of Hope Avenue and Madison Street in Coatesville. Four actors wearing masks were involved in the incident. One of those actors fired six shots. Another actor fired two shots. Two different guns were fired. The school bus was struck twice, once in the grill and another in the windshield. No one was injured.
At a press conference held in the Coatesville Police Department on Friday, deBarrena-Sarobe sent a verbal message to those still at-large. “We continue to investigate the other three people involved, and my message to those three people is, ‘Get ahead of this. Go to your families. Go to your religious leaders here in Coatesville and come into the Coatesville Police Department and turn yourself in.
“We have an idea of where this investigation is going, and this is your chance to put the community at peace,” he said. “Because there is not a single child that should ever feel like their school bus is not a safe place.”
A football game involving Coatesville Area Senior High and Downingtown East High School was cancelled Thursday. Coatesville students on Friday stayed at home and worked remotely. DeBarrena-Sarobe said he and city Police Chief Jack Laufer had been in touch with school officials to offer them any help they could give.
This was not a threat to attack a school or some random act of violence, the district attorney said last week.
“We are investigating the source of it, but we believe there is a personal feud between students at the school,” the district attorneys said. “This is where we are as a society, when kids have access to guns at an unbelievable rate. And they feel subjected to ridicule on social media and other circles, and we are left in a position when we have kids leaving school early apparently to meet up and go shoot at someone.
“This is just one symptom we are seeing across the region and across the country,” he said.
To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.
