By A. G. SULZBERGER
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — On Main Street, the signs of police activity had all but disappeared by Monday. The State Police cars were gone, the yellow police tape removed. Order, at least outside the National Baseball Hall of Fame, had been restored.
But in this village of 2,000, where phone numbers are given by their four-digit suffixes, people remain badly shaken in the aftermath of a violent dispute that left two 16-year-old boys recovering from gunshot wounds.
One of the boys shot the other on Friday afternoon, and then shot himself, with a .22-caliber rifle. No one knows how or why the shooting, thought to be the first here in at least a couple of decades, took place. And vague, unexplained assertions by law enforcement officials that race may have played a role in the attack — the boy with the rifle was white, the victim black — have provoked additional consternation.
“We’re not Stepford people here; we disagree on certain things; but when push comes to shove, we look out for one another,” said Carol Bateman Waller, whose eight-year run as mayor ended Monday. “It’s just such an odd thing to happen here.”
The suspect, Anthony Pacherille, volunteers in church and had expressed interest in becoming a priest; the victim, Wesley Lippitt, is an Eagle Scout. They know each other, have friends in common and are both sophomores at Cooperstown Central High School.
The shooting happened at Cooper Grounds, a small, tidy green space next to the Hall of Fame on Main Street. On an unseasonably warm afternoon, it brimmed with teenagers enjoying a day off from school for Good Friday.
Anthony was driving his father’s car around the small paved loop inside the park. There, too, with friends, was Wesley, a popular athlete who was one of the few black children in a village that, according to census figures, is more than 95 percent white.
According to the Otsego County sheriff’s office, Anthony stopped alongside Wesley and two other students, and when one of the boys approached the open car window, Anthony lifted the rifle. “He’s got a gun,” the boy yelled.
As the three boys fled, Anthony, still holding the rifle, jumped out of the car without putting it in park; the car rolled into an iron fence. Wesley and his two friends split up as they ran, with Wesley taking shelter in the nearby government offices that house the six-person local police force.
Following him into the small white building, Anthony fired two shots at Wesley, according to the sheriff’s office. The first tore through his arm; the second sailed through a glass pane and two walls, missing a police officer by a few inches, the authorities said. When the officer drew his weapon and ordered Anthony to drop his gun, the boy placed the rifle under his chin and fired. The bullet exited between his eyes without hitting his brain.
Both boys were taken to nearby Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital. Wesley was released that day and has since been walking around town with his arm in a sling. Anthony was still recovering at the hospital on Monday.
“It’s not the type of thing that happens ordinarily, to put it mildly, here in Cooperstown,” said Hugh C. MacDougall, the official village historian. “People are horrified by it, and basically waiting to find out what really happened and why.”
District Attorney John M. Muehl of Otsego County said Anthony had not yet been charged but was likely to face a count of second-degree attempted murder. Mr. Muehl said investigators were reviewing witness statements and some of Anthony’s writings to determine whether the shooting should be prosecuted as a hate crime.
“There seems to be some evidence that points to some racial bias,” he said, declined to elaborate. “That is not something that has been confirmed yet.”
Many local residents bristled at the suggestion that the town could have racial tensions. Some pointed to the high number of interracialadoptions. (Wesley is adopted; his parents are white.)
“We are a community that lacks diversity, but that doesn’t mean we’re bigots,” said Lynne Mebust, a village trustee who oversees the police committee. “I don’t know that there is any racial angle to this whatsoever. These are unanswered questions.”
On Monday, village life was getting back to normal, though the shooting continued to be a constant topic of conversation. Residents expressed weariness at the news media attention.
Tourists strolled along the shops that peddle baseball souvenirs and posed for photos outside the Hall of Fame. By afternoon, workers had spackled over the bullet holes in the government offices, where a new mayor, Joseph J. Booan Jr., was sworn in. Children returned to school, where they were told to try to keep the rumors to a minimum.
Those who know Anthony and Wesley tried to make sense of what had happened.
Mary Jo McPhail, the school superintendent, said neither had a disciplinary record. “There was nothing about either student that would stand out and be any concern to us,” she said.
The pastor of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, where Anthony and his family are active members, was also disbelieving. He described Anthony as a solid, sensitive child who volunteered regularly at the church and had expressed interest in becoming a priest.
The pastor, the Rev. John P. Rosson, said that Anthony had been a victim of bullying.
“He probably snapped,” Father Rosson said. “You don’t in your right mind just run into a police station and start shooting.”
Father Rosson said he had visited with Anthony several times since the shooting and stopped by the hospital on Easter to give communion. Anthony was sitting up and could talk, he said.
“There is deep remorse,” Father Rosson said. “He did something wrong; he knows that. He feels guilty, but he’s lacking insight and he needs help.”
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