Parents Call For Increased Police Patrols Following Recent Shootings Near Brooklyn School
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Parents are calling for a greater police presence following a number of recent shootings near a Brooklyn school.
Hundreds of families in the Success Academy Bed-Stuy 1 charter school rallied Friday morning, chanting and carrying signs that read "Protect Our Schools" and "Protect Our Children."
Schools officials said gunshots have been heard five times near the Thompkins Avenue school over the last eight days.
Parents Call For Increased Police Patrols Following Recent Shootings Near Brooklyn School
Each time, students have been rushed inside from the schoolyard or away from the windows and into the hallways.
"We all hear gunfire and then you have to make sure kids don't run into the building because you could have a stampede," academy founder Eva Moskowitz said. "Obviously this is a hot spot and it is not being taken care of."
Parents are scared and concerned for the safety of their children.
"I don't want them to be in school being interrupted of their studies," mother Raquel Hampton said. "I want them to continue to have integrity, stand strong and know that they are safe."
The NYPD said it has a surveillance tower in place around the clock on Kings Place and Thompkins Avenue and extra police patrolling the area during school hours and at dismissal.
