Five teenagers are shot during senior skip day water gun fight that saw 600 high school students gather at Maryland park

Five Maryland high school teenagers have been shot and injured during a water gun fight while celebrating 'Senior Skip Day' in a public park. 

The unidentified male teenagers, all of whom are between the ages of 16-18, were found with gunshot wounds at Schrom Hills Park by Greenbelt Police Department officers at around 3pm on Friday.

According to Police Chief Richard Bowers, nearly 600 students from various Maryland schools had come together to celebrate the unofficial holiday. 

Due to the size of the crowd, multiple officials began to patrol the area in order to assist people and help with traffic control. 

But soon after they arrived, some officers presumably heard multiple gunshots being fired and found all five boys wounded. 

According to Bowers, one of the injured teens is currently in critical condition and had to be airlifted from the scene while the other four are currently in stable condition at local hospitals. 

As of now, officials believe that the suspect escaped from the scene by hiding among the massive crowd that had run off onto Hanover Parkway after hearing the gunshots.

Bowers explained in a press conference: 'While officers were walking into the park, they heard gunshots. 

'They believe that time there could have been a number of shots, not verified, but eight to 10 gunshots. 

'They located five wounded individuals and immediately began providing medical care to those individuals while they secured the area and searched for a suspect. 

'At that moment when the shots were fired, all of those individuals that were in the park began to flee to Hanover Parkway. When they did that, we believe that the suspect left with them and fled the park. We have not located him at this point. 

'This is a horrible, tragic, senseless act that happened today. There is absolutely no reason that this occurred. It is senseless, it is chronic in our society, and we have to do something to stop it.'

The police chief also commented that the incident was 'unacceptable' and that the community had to come together to 'find a way to keep this from happening'.   

Officials have clarified that all of the students at the park were from different Maryland high schools. 

The incident is under investigation and police have asked people who were present at the scene to come forward with any information they may have about the shooting or the suspect.