Parents Split Over Metal Detectors After False Alarm At Brooklyn High School
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- SWAT teams swarmed a Brooklyn high school on Wednesday, after reports of a student with a gun.
It turned out to be a false alarm, but the scare has some parents calling on the mayor to rethink his stance on metal detectors.
"I know they're on lockdown, a hard lockdown," Katherine Manis told CBS2's Jessica Moore.
"We're all worried. Everybody's worried. I want to get my daughter out, but they're not letting anybody in our out," Tony Russo added.
Dozens of NYPD officers descended on Fort Hamilton High School around 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, after someone reported seeing a student with a gun inside.
Outside, angry parents swarmed the campus demanding to see their children.
"I just want her to get out. They're not letting anyone in over here," Ruben Ortiz said.
After a thorough sweep of the school, police confirmed the report of a gun turned out to be unfounded.
"They didn't tell us anything. They said it's a hard lockdown, nothing else. The students just know from social media," Damian Eric said.
Fort Hamilton High School is not among the roughly 88 of the district's 1,800 schools equipped with metal detectors.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has said installing metal detectors in every school is not part of his agenda.
"Do we aspire to a society where every kid has to go through a metal detector to go to school? No," he said.
Parents are mixed on whether Wednesday's scare should have the mayor rethinking his position.
"I think all high schools should have metal detectors in this day and age," Anna Rivera said.
"Unless they can show me the need for metal detectors, other than this incident, which turned out to be different, then no," John Aconomakos said.
At odds over metal detectors, but parents and students alike said they're relieved Wednesday's scare was a false alarm.
