Dorsey Baseball Player, 17, Shoots Self in Head, Dies

A 17-year-old Dorsey High School baseball player died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head while aboard the team bus as it returned from a game Tuesday, police said.

Wilford Wright, the team’s starting shortstop, was playing Russian roulette in the back of the bus when his .22-caliber pistol went off, said the team’s coach, former Dodger outfielder Derrel Thomas.

But Los Angeles Police Department investigators said the shooting could have been a suicide.

“It’s debatable if it was Russian roulette,” said Detective John Rodriguez. “We could believe that if we focus on one witness. But there are others. Right now, I would lean toward suicide.”

Thomas, however, said the teen-ager “was playing with the weapon at a time he shouldn’t have been.” He said the youngster was playing Russian roulette, and no one else was involved. “He was just fooling around, and the weapon went off,” Thomas said.

Dorsey students who went to the hospital said Wright had played with the gun before at school. They said they believe the shooting was accidental.

Thomas, in his first year as Dorsey’s coach, said his team was “very devastated” by the shooting. “I was just getting to know all of the players. Obviously, I was not aware that he had the gun or I would have confiscated it.”

Sources at the school who asked not to be identified said they were not surprised that Wright was carrying the gun because he had been threatened by gang members recently.

The shooting, shortly after 6 p.m., occurred as the team bus was traveling north on the Harbor Freeway, returning to the school after the team had been defeated 20-5 by Gardena High School.

Thomas said the player was seated in the back of the bus with only two or three other players nearby. When Wright shot himself, the bus left the freeway at Exposition Boulevard and stopped.

Thomas ran to a phone to call paramedics. The youngster was taken to California Medical Center where he died at 6:33 p.m., said Diana Munatones, a school district spokeswoman.

Psychological counselors will be sent to Dorsey today to help students cope with the tragedy, Munatones said.

Several Dorsey administrators and faculty members converged on the shooting scene Tuesday night to comfort the students.

Team members were in shock after the incident. Several broke down in tears, and other sat stunned with expressions of disbelief aboard a second bus as police investigators interviewed them.

In the midst of the tragedy, Thomas could barely contain his outrage over the way he said a California Highway Patrol officer boarded the bus. The officer, the first to arrive after Thomas called authorities, came aboard with a pistol in his hand, the coach said.

In October, Banning High School in Wilmington forfeited a football game against Dorsey rather than play at the Southwest Los Angeles high school’s home field. In the month before the game, three people had been wounded in gang-related shootings near the school.

Times staff writer Nieson Himmel contributed to this story.