QUEENS, N.Y. (PIX11) – A Queens high school went into lockdown Friday after police were called about a student entering the school with a gun.
The gun turned out to be fake, but the feeling of panic is becoming a familiar reality in schools. It was not a normal dismissal at Flushing High School on Friday. Students left early after hearing a fellow student was toting a gun.
“Kids started going on their phones and realizing it was a shooter they saw outside with a gun,” 11th-grader Leeanna Dillon told PIX11 News.
Students and teachers went into lockdown. Substitute teacher Mrs. S said she went straight into survival mode: hide, protect, and run.
“I started barricading the door. I blocked the window, and found some kind of weapon I could use to defend myself,” she said.
Once police arrived around 10:15 a.m., they took into custody an 18-year-old student who they found with an imitation pistol, according to the NYPD.
The false alarm came just one day after authorities fielded more than 30 swatting incidents involving false and unfounded reports of active shooters at schools across New York State. And earlier this week, six people, including three 9-year-olds, were shot and killed in a Nashville school.
In New York City, the NYPD has been dealing with more violence happening in and around city schools. During regular dismissal at Flushing High School on Friday, school safety officers made sure students felt safe.
