In wake of shooting of 14-year-old in Brooklyn, calls grow for more security at NYC schools
NEW YORK -- There are new calls for increased security on school grounds, following the shooting of a teenager outside a high school in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn on Monday afternoon. Police are still searching for a suspect.
Surveillance video shows a man dressed in dark colors gesture as if talking to someone and then suddenly he pulls out a gun and shoots.
Police said the bullet shattered a bus shelter and then hit the ankle of a 14-year-old boy who walking outside of Boys and Girls High School.
"These guys have no morals about utilizing guns. And, first of all, they have no shooting practice so they just aim to shoot, so that's why innocent bystanders are constantly getting hit by stray bullets," resident Jeff Hallett told CBS2's Natalie Duddridge on Tuesday.
Authorities say the teen was treated at the hospital and is expected to be fine, adding he has no criminal record and that it appears he was an innocent bystander.
"Senseless acts, they got to stop this. Cops have to be out here more often," one resident said.
The shooting happened at 3 p.m. Monday near the corner of Fulton Street and Utica Avenue, across from Boys and Girls High School, which had just been dismissed. The incident has prompted calls for more school security.
Gregory Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237, said there are 2,000 fewer school safety agents citywide than in 2019.
"They had a special unit, a task force, that responded to schools during dismissal, and they were on the perimeter of all the major high schools. With that patrol, they made sure that children got to the buses, to the subways safely," Floyd said.
"They need more security guards. They need more police out here. They need to get these guns out of the city, period. It's getting out of control," one woman said.
"It's not really the school's fault. It's not on the school to have security there. It's really a community problem," another person said.
Witnesses told Duddridge there were several officers present Monday. Surveillance video shows a police cruiser parked right in front of the shooter. Investigators are asking anyone with information on that person to contact them.
