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       A girl was fatally shot Monday in the Lanham area near DuVal High School, where she attended classes, according to Prince George’s County police.

       The shooting took place near Palamar and Woodstream drives, police said. According to a preliminary investigation, the student was walking down Palamar Drive about 3:45 p.m., shortly after school ended, said Zachary O’Lare, acting deputy chief of the police department’s bureau of investigations and forensic science. While she was walking, there was a dispute between two groups, during which a gun went off.

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       The girl was taken to a hospital with critical injuries. She was later pronounced dead.

       Police were unsure on Monday whether the girl was involved in one of the groups who were arguing. They said they did not know whether other students were part of the groups.

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       Two schools — Robert Goddard Montessori School and DuVal High School — were placed on lockdown while police started an investigation. The lockdowns were lifted approximately an hour later, about 5 p.m.

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       Grief counselors and mental health professionals will be at DuVal High starting Tuesday, according to a statement from Prince George’s County Public Schools.

       The school system — which is Maryland’s second-largest with about 131,000 students — is in the process of adding weapons detectors to all its high schools this school year. DuVal High was set to receive security equipment “in the next couple of months,” but that will be expedited “to ensure that this community feels the kind of safety we know it wants,” Schools Superintendent Millard House II said during a news conference Monday. The school also will have security training in the days ahead.

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       “As we mourn her untimely departure, we must also confront the harsh reality that such tragedy should never have occurred — whether it be in Prince George’s County or any other county,” House said. He added that “change in our schools, change in our community must happen.”

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       A woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of her safety, said she lives in the neighborhood just down the street from the shooting. She wasn’t home when she received texts asking whether she had heard about a DuVal student being shot nearby and then that the girl had died.

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       “School just started; c’mon,” the woman said. “Imagine how her parents feel, see your child leave out the house this morning and you’ve got to go to the hospital and see your child laying down dead with a gunshot wound?

       “Every time you look, it’s a gun. It’s getting so frustrating,” she said.

       Barry Stanton, the county’s deputy chief administrative officer for public safety, offered condolences to the family and “the students of Prince George’s County” on behalf of County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D).

       “We are heartbroken, we are frustrated to see what our students in Prince George’s County have to go through,” Stanton said.

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       Police were investigating a motive and potential suspects Monday. The crime scene remained active at 6 p.m. Monday, with police photographing the scene. The entrance to the Wood Stream neighborhood in Lanham, a few feet away from DuVal High, was cordoned off with police tape.

       O’Lare said the department spared no resources in investigating the shooting. Homicide detectives, crime scene investigators, aviation and K-9 units were at the scene Monday afternoon.

       “We are determined to find the suspect who callously, in broad daylight, killed one of our teenagers in our community,” O’Lare said.

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