Prince Harry scores goal in charity polo match as Meghan, Netflix cameras look on

WELLINGTON, Fla. (AP) — Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, may have given up their royal duties, but not the celebrity life.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex drew a crowd of media and the wealthy on Friday as he played in a celebrity pro-am polo match to benefit Sentebale, the charity he founded in 2006 for children and young adults who live in the southern Africa countries of Lesotho and Botswana.

Harry, Meghan and their friend, Argentine polo player and model Nacho Figueras, were tailed by a camera crew from the same production company that makes the soccer reality show “Welcome to Wrexham” for an upcoming Netflix miniseries that will focus on polo.

Harry did not speak to reporters. But Figueras said he hopes the show will have the same impact for polo that “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” had for the worldwide auto racing circuit. Harry and Meghan will serve as executive producers.

“We have been working on this for a long time. It was always Harry's dream and passion to share with the world it takes to be a really competitive polo player at the highest level,” Figueras said.

Figueras, who captained one of the two teams that played the prince's squad, said before the abbreviated matches he and Harry gave each other a lot of ribbing in recent days over Friday's competition. They have worked together on Sentebale since 2007.

“We joke a lot about who is going to win,” Figueras said. Harry, he said, is "a very good rider, he's a very good athlete, he has great eye-hand coordination. He's very competitive. He's a very good polo player.”

In Friday's matches at Grand Champions Polo Club in suburban Palm Beach County, Harry's Royal Salute Sentebale team beat Figueras' squad 3-1, with the prince scoring the opening goal. He picked up the ball at midfield — 150 yards (137 meters) from the goal — and repeatedly hammered it the rest of the way, popping it through the goal posts. He also stopped his friend from a possible breakaway, though he let out a loud yelp of frustration when he missed a pass to a teammate that could have led to a goal.

In his first match of the day against Maseru Team, Royal Sentebale won 1-0, but the prince missed an open, in-close shot.

With Sentebale winning both matches, Harry received the trophy for winning the mini-tournament — and a kiss on the cheek — from Meghan.

About 300 spectators attended the matches, part of a fundraising weekend that will raise $1 million for Sentebale, organizers said. Since 2006, celebrity polo matches around the world have raised about $15 million for the charity, organizers said. According to its latest annual report, Sentabale raised about $6 million overall in its 2022 fiscal year, with about half that coming from the United States.

Harry has been estranged for several years from members of his family, including his older brother, Prince William, heir to the throne. Any rift was further exacerbated by his 2023 memoir “Spare,” which recounted sibling grievances including a time he said his brother ripped his necklace and knocked him onto a dog bowl.

Harry quit royal duties in 2020, and he and Meghan moved to Los Angeles, citing what they said was the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media.

Before marrying the prince in a royal wedding watched around the world in 2018, the 42-year-old duchess was a star of the TV show “Suits.” The couple has two children, 4-year-old Archie and 2-year-old Lilibet.

Britain's Prince Harry, right, and wife Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, arrive for the 2024 Royal Salute Polo Challenge to Benefit Sentebale, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Wellington, Fla. Prince Harry, co-founding patron of the Sentebale charity, will play on the Royal Salute Sentebale Team. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Britain's Prince Harry, center right, poses with, from left, Argentine professional polo player Ignacio "Nacho" Figueras, Sentebale Chair Sophie Chandauka, and Sentebale CEO Richard Miller, as he arrives for the 2024 Royal Salute Polo Challenge to Benefit Sentebale, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Wellington, Fla. Prince Harry, co-founding patron of the Sentebale charity, will play on the Royal Salute entebale Team. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Britain's Prince Harry, right, and wife Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, second right, pose for photos with Argentine professional polo player Ignacio "Nacho" Figueras, left, and his wife Delfina Blaquier as they arrive for the 2024 Royal Salute Polo Challenge to Benefit Sentebale, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Wellington, Fla. Prince Harry, co-founding patron of the Sentebale charity, will play on the Royal Salute Sentebale Team. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Britain's Prince Harry, right, and wife Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, second right, pose for photos with Argentine professional polo player Ignacio "Nacho" Figueras, left, and his wife Delfina Blaquier as they arrive for the 2024 Royal Salute Polo Challenge to Benefit Sentebale, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Wellington, Fla. Prince Harry, co-founding patron of the Sentebale charity, will play on the Royal Salute Sentebale Team. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Britain's Prince Harry, right, talks with Argentine professional polo player Ignacio "Nacho" Figueras, as he arrives for the 2024 Royal Salute Polo Challenge to Benefit Sentebale, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Wellington, Fla. Prince Harry, co-founding patron of the Sentebale charity, will play on the Royal Salute Sentebale Team. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Britain's Prince Harry, right, poses with Argentine professional polo player Ignacio "Nacho" Figueras, as he arrives for the 2024 Royal Salute Polo Challenge to Benefit Sentebale, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Wellington, Fla. Prince Harry, co-founding patron of the Sentebale charity, will play on the Royal Salute Sentebale Team. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, waves to the press as she walks with Delfina Blaquier, left, and Alba Figueras, the wife and daughter of Argentine professional polo player Ignacio "Nacho" Figueras, as she arrives for the 2024 Royal Salute Polo Challenge to Benefit Sentebale, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Wellington, Fla. Prince Harry, co-founding patron of the Sentebale charity, will play on the Royal Salute Sentebale Team. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Britain's Prince Harry, right, and wife Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, arrive for the 2024 Royal Salute Polo Challenge to Benefit Sentebale, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Wellington, Fla. Prince Harry, co-founding patron of the Sentebale charity, will play on the Royal Salute Sentebale Team. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Argentine professional polo player Ignacio "Nacho" Figueras, right, greets journalists as he arrives for the 2024 Royal Salute Polo Challenge to Benefit Sentebale, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Wellington, Fla. Prince Harry, co-founding patron of the Sentebale charity, will play on the Royal Salute Sentebale Team. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Britain's Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, obscured, arrive for the 2024 Royal Salute Polo Challenge to Benefit Sentebale, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Wellington, Fla. Prince Harry, co-founding patron of the Sentebale charity, will play on the Royal Salute Sentebale Team. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Britain's Prince Harry, right, talks with Louis Devaleix as they ride out for the start of the 2024 Royal Salute Polo Challenge to Benefit Sentebale, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Wellington, Fla. Prince Harry, co-founding patron of the Sentebale charity, will play on the Royal Salute Sentebale Team. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Britain's Prince Harry, left, talks with other players at the start of the 2024 Royal Salute Polo Challenge to Benefit Sentebale, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Wellington, Fla. Prince Harry, co-founding patron of the Sentebale charity, will play on the Royal Salute Sentebale Team. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Britain's Prince Harry plays a ball during the 2024 Royal Salute Polo Challenge to Benefit Sentebale, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Wellington, Fla. Prince Harry, co-founding patron of the Sentebale charity, will play on the Royal Salute Sentebale Team. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Britain's Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, arrive for the 2024 Royal Salute Polo Challenge to Benefit Sentebale, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Wellington, Fla. Prince Harry, co-founding patron of the Sentebale charity, will play on the Royal Salute Sentebale Team. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Britain's Prince Harry, center, races for a ball as he plays in the 2024 Royal Salute Polo Challenge to Benefit Sentebale, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Wellington, Fla. Prince Harry, co-founding patron of the Sentebale charity, will play on the Royal Salute Sentebale Team. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

MOUNT HOREB, Wis. (AP) — Police shot and killed a Wisconsin student outside a middle school after receiving a report of someone with a weapon Wednesday, the state's attorney general said in the first law enforcement briefing on gunshots that sent children fleeing and prompted an hourslong lockdown of local schools.

Authorities had previously said an active shooter who never got inside the building was “neutralized” outside Mount Horeb Middle School. State Attorney General Josh Kaul told reporters Wednesday evening that no one else was harmed and that an investigation is continuing.

“This incident took place outdoors. The subject in this case never gained entry,” he said.

Authorities at the briefing described the student as a juvenile male but did not provide an age or any information about which of the Mount Horeb district's schools he attended.

Kaul declined to answer several questions about what happened once police responded, including whether the student had fired a weapon, what type of weapon he might have had, and whether he had made an effort to get inside the school building. Authorities said multiple Mount Horeb officers, who wore body cameras, had fired weapons but they did not say how many.

Police remained on the scene hours after the incident and students were kept locked down in buildings late into the afternoon before slowly being released to family members.

For panicked kids and their parents, the initial incident and the long wait to be reunited was terrifying. Parents described children hiding in closets, afraid to communicate on cell phones, and one middle schooler said his class initially fled the school gym on in-line skates.

The district used Facebook posts throughout the day to give updates, with the earliest coming around 11:30 a.m. and reporting that all district schools were on lockdown. Authorities in Mount Horeb said without giving details that the “alleged assailant” was harmed, and witnesses described hearing gunshots and seeing dozens of children running.

More than four hours later, school buses remained lined up for blocks outside the middle school and authorities had used police tape to surround the middle school, the nearby high school and playing fields between both buildings.

“An initial search of the middle school has not yielded additional suspects,” a post around noon said. “As importantly, we have no reports of individuals being harmed, with the exception of the alleged assailant.”

Earlier, the district posted that “the threat has been neutralized outside of the building” but didn't elaborate on what had happened at the school in Mount Horeb, some 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of the state capital of Madison.

Jeanne Keller said she heard about five gunshots while in her shop The Quilting Jeanne, just down the block from the campus that includes the middle school.

“It was maybe like pow-pow-pow-pow,” Keller told The Associated Press by phone. “I thought it was fireworks. I went outside and saw all the children running ... I probably saw 200 children.”

One middle schooler said his class was in the school gym practicing in-line skating when they heard gunshots.

Max Kelly, 12, said his teacher told the class to get out of the school. He said they skated to a street, ditched their in-line skates and ran to a nearby convenience store and gas station where they hid in a bathroom.

Kelly was reunited with his parents and sat on a hillside with them early Wednesday afternoon waiting for his younger siblings to be released from their own schools. He still wore socks, his shoes left behind.

“I don’t think anywhere is safe anymore,” said his mother, 32-year-old Alison Kelly.

Police in Mount Horeb said they could not provide information in the immediate hours after the incident. The Dane County Sheriff's office directed reporters to a staging area but also provided no updates.

Anxious parents spent hours gathered at a bus depot waiting for their kids. Kaul said law enforcement had been concerned about the possiblity of a continuing threat though he didn't provide more details. He said investigators sought to interview students as they were reunited with parents, trying to avoid stretching those conversations out over coming days.

Shannon Hurd, 44, and her former husband, Nathian Hurd, 39, sat in a car waiting for their 13-year-old son, Noah, who was still in the locked-down middle school.

Shannon Hurd said she first heard what happened via a text from Noah saying he loved her. She said she nearly fell down the stairs at her work as she ran to get to the school.

“I just want my kid,” she said. “They’re supposed to be safe at school.”

Stacy Smith, 42, was at the bank Wednesday when she saw police cars rush by and soon got a school district text warning of an active shooter.

She initially could not reach her two children — junior Abbi and seventh-grader Cole. Finally, she reached Abbi by phone but the girl whispered that she was hiding in a closet and couldn’t talk. She eventually connected with both children and learned they were OK.

“Not here,” she said in disbelief. “You hear about this everywhere else but not here.”

Schools nationwide have sought ways to prevent mass shootings inside their walls, from physical security measures and active shooter drills to technology including detailed digital maps. Many also rely on teachers and administrators working to detect early signs of student mental health struggles.

Mount Horeb Area School District Superintendent Steve Salerno suggested that without recent security upgrades “this could have been a far worse tragedy.” He said students immediately told school staff about seeing someone outside the building but did not elaborate.

“It's an experience that you just pray to God every day that you just don't ever have to enter into,” Salerno told reporters. “Today we were called upon, our staff, these amazing professionals around the table were called upon to act and they did so. And they did so with great professionalism.”

The village is home to around 7,600 people and the central office of outdoor gear retailer Duluth Trading Company. Mount Horeb markets itself as the “troll capital of the world,” a reference to carvings of trolls stationed throughout its downtown district in tribute to a Scandinavian gift shop that was a landmark for passing long-haul truckers in the 1970s.

Associated Press reporters Corey Williams in Detroit and Rick Callahan in Indianapolis contributed to this report.

People wait for their children outside the Mount Horeb School District bus station in Mount Horeb, Wis., where students were taken after an active shooter situation at the middle school, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Authorities said without giving details that the “alleged assailant” was harmed, and a witness said she had heard gunshots and saw dozens of children running. (AP Photo/Todd Richmond)

People gather at a site designated for parent and student reunifications following a report of a armed person outside Mount Horeb Middle School in Mount Horeb, Wis., Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)

Bystanders watch as law enforcement personnel respond to the report of a person armed with a rifle at Mount Horeb Middle School in Mount Horeb, Wis., Wednesday, May 1, 2024. The school district said a person it described as an active shooter was outside a middle school in Mount Horeb on Wednesday but the threat was “neutralized” and no one inside the building was injured. (John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)

Law enforcement personnel respond to a report of a person armed with a rifle at Mount Horeb Middle School in Mount Horeb, Wis., Wednesday, May 1, 2024. The school district said a person it described as an active shooter was outside a middle school in Mount Horeb on Wednesday but the threat was “neutralized” and no one inside the building was injured. (John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)

Law enforcement personnel respond to a report of a person armed with a rifle at Mount Horeb Middle School in Mount Horeb, Wis., Wednesday, May 1, 2024. The school district said a person it described as an active shooter was outside a middle school in Mount Horeb on Wednesday but the threat was “neutralized” and no one inside the building was injured. (John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)