Report of gun prompts lockdown at 2 city schools
Complete coverage of the Philadelphia School District by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Kristen Graham.
Report of gun prompts lockdown at 2 city schools
Kristen Graham
Two city schools in Feltonville were locked down and police besieged a home in the neighborhood Thursday after four students reported a woman had pointed a weapon at them on their way to school, police said.
Using a robot, police, however, determined no one was in the house and declared an all-clear just before noon.
Police later executed a search warrant at house on the 4600 block of Ella Street but left empty handed.
According to Chief Inspector Joe Sullivan, the department’s commander of the home security, the incident began when the students arrived at the school a little before 10 a.m. and reported a woman had pointed a long arm — a rifle, or a shotgun — when they were “interacting” with a dog in the rear yard of the house.
As a precaution, officials locked down Feltonville School of Arts and Sciences, a grades 6-8 middle school, and the K-2 Barton Elementary, both on the same campus.
School police notified city police and a SWAT team, with hostage negotiators at the ready, took up position around the house.
Sullivan said police sent in a robot, which searched the house and found no one inside.
The lockdown ended around noon.
News of the incident prompted parents to go to the schools to get their children.
"I felt confused because I didn’t know what happened, said Orquida Cesar, whose 11-year-old son is in the sixth grader.
Mario Mercado picked up his sixth-grade daughter early from Feltonville School about 1:45 pm. "It's kind of difficult," he said. "At least nothing happened."
His daughter said she was "scared" and "started crying" when the school went into lockdown. She said her mother saw the lockdown news on TV and "was worried." With the mother worried, Mercado went to pick up his daughter.
"I was nervous because I didn't know what was happening," Cesar's son said. "I didn't know if it was Connecticut all over again," he said, referring to the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.
Cesar's son said students in his class watchec cartoons during the lockdown.
Students the school didn't tell them what triggered the lockdown.
-Kristen Graham and Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman
This story could be renamed as: "School kids find a novel way to get a day off school." Accuse someone of pointing a gun, and the cops will close the school. Call it a "911 snow day."— DonQ- @professor....you just took a sentence out of a 600 pages article that was cited by a neo-con website. stop trying to trick people with BS— cdw1262
- lol. i cannot believe the political rhetoric on every story. geesh. you guys really are whacked. now i know how the term gun nut was coined. it's very descripted.— black dog
- @CHARLIE - seriously. are you 12? if you think your constant crying about guns is logic, well think again. are you even capable of posting intelligently? or are you always clowning?— black dog
- @PROFESSOR that is why i will lose? lose WHAT????? lol. are you drinking your lunch. and again you are ignoring the point i made that your FIRST post was inane. i wasn't even talking about gun control and again WHAT will i LOSE?? the fact i find constant gun rhetoric boring is a bad thing???? lol. only to people like you who constantly whine and rant (you say logic, lol) about guns guns guns.frankly i have more important things to worry about in my life. i don't even care if YOU have thirty guns. buy more. i couldn't care less.— black dog
- @CHARLIE - acutally i don't post to be witty and i am not the smartest peson in the world but i am certainly not the slowest. maybe YOU think that in the back of you rmind. sounds like you have some post envy there fellah. as for my first post, what is your point??? if someone were holed up with a weapon and threatening people, heck yeah take them out. that is SOP for those types of situation. and WHy would i have to move??? this is free country and i can say/think what i want. is that the stock answer for anyone who doesn't agree with you????— black dog
- @CHARLIE - well GEE, my post was predicated on it being the truth. obviously i was talking about the cops (at least i thought it was obvious), genious. and fyi - while kids do occasionally carry a gun to school it is far from SOP. you thrive on the generalities and sterotypes, don't ya? i don't know or care what joe biden said so i cannot help you. and again with the juvenile name calling?? is your mommy home? does she see what you are typing?— black dog
- The police sent a robot into the house? "I'd buy THAT for a dollar!"— J H
- @charlie, sure did. you getting jollies of a typo? wow, you are easily amused. are you smiking pit? there's some more for yuo. don't bust a gut.— black dog
- I was over at 'A" and Wyoming, next to 4600 Ella. The kids were in the alley behind the houses ( where they had no right to be) and the dog was a guide dog. "Interacting with the dog" my foot. They were harassing the animal. Amazing the kids didn't get shot in Feltonville.— Damsel555
During the school year, you’ll frequently find her hosting live chats about the district on Philly.com. Please do pass along the scoop about what’s going on at your Philadelphia public school; Kristen welcomes tips, story ideas and witty banter at kgraham@phillynews.com or 215-854-5146.
You can also follow Kristen on Twitter here.
