19-year-old facing first-degree assault charge in connection with Blake High shooting
Victim,17, in stable condition, police say; school to hold community meeting Thursday night
By
Ashlyn CampbellApril 30, 2026 5:02 p.m.
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A 19-year-old Silver Spring man was arrested and charged with first-degree assault Wednesday in connection with a shooting at James Hubert Blake High School that left a juvenile injured, Montgomery County police said Thursday afternoon in a statement.
Djibia Gombo, who was arrested, is being held at the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit in Rockville, where he is awaiting a bond hearing. Gombo’s court records were not available online as of Thursday afternoon. Meanwhile, the school was scheduled to hold a community meeting Thursday night to discuss the incident.
According to police, a Community Engagement Officer (CEO) who was at Blake High was alerted at roughly 11:30 a.m. to a fight in the school parking lot. The CEO and a Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) security officer responded to the altercation and during the fight, police said, a handgun was found “after it was reportedly thrown to the ground.”
The firearm was recovered by school security, police said Thursday. The CEO, who was not named, is a county officer who is assigned to the Blake High cluster.
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Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) crews were also dispatched to the call and staged at a nearby park, according to MCFRS radio transmissions. At 11:48 a.m. the crews were still staging when, according to radio transmissions, they received a notification over the radio that “one of the victims was dropped off at White Oak Medical Center,” referring to Adventist HealthCare White Oak Medical Center at 11890 Healing Way in Silver Spring.
Police said Thursday that shortly after the incident a 17-year-old boy arrived at a local hospital with a gunshot wound and detectives determined the teen was involved in the fight. During the altercation, police said, “the gun discharged,” and the 17-year-old was shot.
Blake High Principal Ahmed Adelekan wrote in a Wednesday letter to the school community that the 17-year-old, a Blake student, was in stable condition.
In a video sent to Bethesda Today of the incident, a group of people appear to be fighting in the Blake parking lot. As those involved, and at least one MCPS security guard, attempt to break up the fight, it appears that a weapon was on the ground near the brawl.
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One person appears to pick up the weapon before they are pushed against a car by another individual. The MCPS security guard then picked the weapon up from the ground.
In another video provided to Bethesda Today, which does not show the entire incident, a gunshot can be heard after a brief glimpse of the altercation in the parking lot.
In the community letter, Adelekan said the suspect was not an MCPS student and the physical altercation “seemingly escalated into a gun incident that occurred during lunch.” Adelekan said several Blake students were involved in the altercation.
According to the letter, the school operated on a three-hour delayed opening for students on Thursday, and first period served as an “extended advisory” to ensure students could access mental health resources.
The school also implemented several safety measures beginning Thursday, including not allowing students to eat lunch outside for the remainder of the school year and not allowing outside food deliveries. Staff will also have “responsibilities for enhancing school operations and strengthening safety measures,” according to the letter.
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Police said the incident remains an active investigation and officers were “continuing to look into how the shooting occurred.” Additional charges are pending in connection with the fight and shooting, police said.
Wednesday’s incident follows the detainment of a student April 24 at Watkins Mill High School after reports of a student with a firearm sent the Gaithersburg campus into a hold status. Students were kept briefly in classrooms, according to social media posts from county police.
The firearm was allegedly located in the student’s backpack by school security, police said, and the student was detained. The school was placed on hold status for 20 minutes.
The hold last week followed another incident at Watkins Mill High on April 7 in which a student was detained for allegedly bringing a firearm to campus. A Gaithersburg High School student was also arrested in March for possession of a loaded handgun on school property.
Wednesday’s shooting at Blake came more than two months after a 16-year-old boy was injured in a February shooting at Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville. That incident resulted in an hours-long lockdown that shook the school community. Another 16-year-old student is facing an attempted murder charge in connection with the shooting.
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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine