New York Daily News – by Rachel Monahan , Rich Schapiro AND Stephen Rex Brown
Students at an Upper East Side school endured a terrifying two-hour lockdown Tuesday after a student was busted with a loaded BB gun, an Education Department spokeswoman said.
A student at Life Sciences Secondary School on East 96th St. near First Ave. was taken to the 19th Precinct on suspicion of weapons possession, the spokeswoman said. The student was allegedly carrying a stash of BBs, as well.
Kadija Sylla, 17, said she was in science class when an alert came over the loudspeaker telling students “this is not a drill, this is a hard lockdown.” The senior said the teacher then locked the door to the classroom and the students all congregated in one corner as they’d practiced.
“It was really scary because we didn’t know what was going on,” said Sylla. “We prepared for this. But never thought it would really happen at this school. It was really shocking.”
Most nerve-racking of all, officials in the hallway frequently checked to make sure classrooms were following proper procedure by making sure the doors were locked, which terrified the students, Sylla said.
“We all jumped,” she said.
The lockdown was in place for roughly two hours and lifted by the NYPD around 1:15 p.m., according to the education spokeswoman.
Around 725 students attend grades six through 12 at Life Sciences Secondary.
The school, founded in 1998 in partnership with Mt. Sinai Hospital, specializes in preparation for careers in medicine.
According to Education Department statistics 68% of the students there say they feel safe in safe in the hallways, bathrooms and locker rooms of the school — below the citywide average of 83%.
Safiy Tounkara, 16, said her parents told her to leave school for the day after the ordeal.
“I think it’s dangerous,” She said of the BB gun scare. “Now we need more security.”
I wonder if it was a big bore full auto assault BB gun. The kid was lucky he didn’t get shot on sight by the SWAT team.
“Safiy Tounkara, 16, said her parents told her to leave school for the day after the ordeal.
“I think it’s dangerous,” She said of the BB gun scare. “Now we need more security.”
Programming complete, in her case………..