Two East Bay High School students shot after getting off bus

TAMPA -- Two East Bay High School students were shot this afternoon after getting off a school bus at Carriage Point Drive and Lilly Bay Court in Gibsonton, officials said.

The two students, both 16, were entering the Carriage Pointe subdivision when they got into a confrontation with some unidentified people, officials said. One is a boy and the other a girl. Both were flown by helicopter to Tampa General Hospital.

Kourtney Davis, 15, said her sister Jessica, an 11th-grader at East Bay, was one of the victims. She said the shootings were in retaliation for a fight Friday.

One student was shot in the arm, and the injuries of the second are unknown, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

Although officials released no conditions, Jessica Davis was talking on the phone to her sister and brother about 6:30 Monday evening.

The incident happened about 3:30 p.m.

East Bay 11th-grader Kyle Moses, 17, said he was standing outside his house on Carriage Pointe Drive when he heard four shots. He said he knew the girl who was shot and heard her call for help afterward.

He said he believes the shooting was in retaliation for a fight last week.

"I never thought this would happen," he said.

East Bay High Principal Sharon Morris said administrators were getting ready to lock up for the day when they got word of the shooting about 4 p.m. from the school resource officer. At 5:30 p.m. Morris said she was still waiting to learn the identities of the students involved.

"It's horrible," she said. "I just hope those kids are okay."

Morris said school officials were waiting for more information before making an announcement about the shooting to students or parents.

Word of the shooting spread quickly among students waiting outside after school.

Serena Lawson, an 18-year-old senior, said she saw police cars and ambulances zooming by the school earlier Monday afternoon. Then she heard about the shooting from other students. But she said she didn't know details.

"We'll probably find out tomorrow or tonight over MySpace," she said.

- Rebecca Catalanello and Catherine E. Shoichet, Times staff writers