Cops: Shot teen was told to 'get off the block'

A Roosevelt High School student had a dispute with an older teenager just before being shot in the arm, police said Friday.

The 14-year-old victim, who suffered non-life-threatening injuries Thursday when the bullet hit him, had been walking just before 3 p.m. on Conlon Road at the intersection of Grenada Avenue with several friends when the older teenager ordered him "to get off the block," said Det. Sgt. Stephen Fitzpatrick of the Nassau County Police.

The boy told police that he and the friends were leaving when they heard a gunshot and the boy felt pain, said Fitzpatrick, a supervisor with the Baldwin-based First Squad detectives, which is investigating the shooting.

The bullet entered the teen's body through his arm and lodged in his back, Fitzpatrick said.

The boy went back to Roosevelt High with his friends and sought help in the nurse's office, Fitzpatrick said.

The boy, whose name wasn't made public, is in stable condition at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, police said. He is expected to live.

Police found and questioned the older teen - not a Roosevelt High student - who had told the victim to leave the block. But police concluded he was not the shooter and he was released. Detectives are still looking for the person who fired the gun.

"Nobody apparently observed anything," Fitzpatrick said.

In the wake of the shooting, Roosevelt school officials locked down the building.

Anyone with information can call the police department's hotline at 800-244-TIPS.