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Gunshots Prompted Lockdown At Coney Island School Friday Morning

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Gunshots were fired outside a Coney Island school Friday around 9:15 a.m., prompting a lockdown.

Shell casings were found in the courtyard of P.S. 288 Shirley Tanyhill School, 1010 WINS' Holli Hearr reported.

One 10-year-old student said she was in gym class when the school went into lockdown. Her teacher turned the lights off and tried to keep the kids quiet. 

"Half of the gym was calm and half of the gym was very loud, and she was trying to quiet us down to tell us this is serious," the student said.

Meanwhile, parents rushed to the school to make sure their children were OK.

"I heard about this on Facebook that there was a shootout at the school," one mother said. "I'm like what school? They said 288, and I ran."

"Very devastated. You send your baby to school not to get hurt, not to be for no gun shooting," another mother said.

Community activists had a message for the shooter.

"These guys need  to put the guns down. And our children shouldn't be in fear."

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