By The newspaper
08 Mar 2024, 08:47 AM EST
An 8-year-old boy brought a gun to his school in Brooklyn (NYC) two days in a row this week.
Officers found the Taurus .380 gun without ammunition in the student’s backpack at PS 158 The Warwick Community School at 400 Ashford St. near Pitkin and Belmont avenues around 10:35 a.m. Thursday. A day before, the same boy had threatened a student with that gun without anyone noticing, until the victim’s mother reported it yesterday, he detailed. New YorkPost.
There were no injuries in any of the incidents. That school does not have metal detectors, according to the School Safety Union (SSU), reported Pix11. No arrests have been announced.
The school announced that it would send a letter about the incident to all students’ families and would collaborate with the New York police (NYPD) and the Child Care Administration (ACS) in the investigation, according to a Department of Education (DOE) source. ).
“It is extremely concerning that such a young child would have access to such a dangerous weapon and we are grateful for the collaboration of our school communities to keep our young people safe every day. “All safety procedures were followed in response to this incident and all students and staff are safe,” said spokesperson Jenna Lyle.
School violence is constant in New York, with guns, knives and physical fights. According to data from the NYPD and the Chalkbeat organization, more than 1,600 knives were found in New York City schools in the 2018-19 school year. But last year that number jumped to more than 2,800.
In February, two 17-year-old students were stabbed at a high school in Queens (NYC), leading to the temporary closure of the school.
In December there were three students stabbed in 24 hours in early morning fights inside their schools, including a female victim. In October, a 13-year-old boy was stabbed to death by a 14-year-old boy while leaving school aboard an MTA public bus in Staten Island.
Similar situations have also occurred in other areas of New York state. In December, a 13-year-old boy was stabbed multiple times by another student of the same age at a middle school in Middletown, Orange County, at the beginning of the day.
In December it was reported that only 79 of 1,500 NYC school buildings had permanent metal detectors. There were also seven roving scanners on wheels, according to the last count known to the school safety officers union. In 2018 there were 93 school scanners. At the same time, the roster of school safety officers plummeted from about 5,200 in 2020 to about 3,700 by the end of 2023.