Intruder slashes Bronx teacher & safety agent

A Bronx elementary school teacher and a school safety agent were slashed when they intervened to protect a colleague from a violent intruder who showed up at the school Thursday morning, police and a union official said.

The suspect, a 39-year-old man, showed up at Public School 69 on Thieriot Ave. in Clason Point around 7:40 a.m. Thursday looking for a guidance counselor with whom he has a relationship, and an argument broke out, according to police.

The guidance counselor was punched during the altercation, according to a school source.

When the teacher and school safety agent stepped in to protect their colleague, both were slashed by the intruder, according to the school safety agents’ union.

The school teacher was cut on the arm, while the school safety agent was cut behind the ear, said Teamsters Local 237 President Gregory Floyd.

The 55-year-old school safety agent was taken to Jacobi Hospital with an injury described as not life-threatening.

“I spoke to him. He said fortunately it didn’t get any major arteries. He’s feeling a little woozy,” Floyd said.

The teacher who was slashed during the incident was treated at the scene, according to police.

The suspect ran off but was caught moments later. Charges are pending.

Schools Chancellor David Banks told reporters outside the school Thursday morning that the slashed teacher was “heroic.” The teacher identified the plate number of the suspect’s vehicle to help police track him down, according to a Department of Education spokesman.

The assault comes a week after a safety agent was reportedly beaten up by parents at a Brooklyn elementary school upset they couldn’t enter because they were not vaccinated.

Attrition and a hiring slowdown has significantly cut the number of school safety agents citywide over the course of the pandemic. Their numbers have fallen from more than 5,000 in June 2020 to below 4,000 last winter. Floyd said only one school safety agent was stationed at PS 69 on Thursday, and that the school used to have several.

“No school should only have one school safety agent. It’s not safe,” said Mona Davids, a parent and member of the NYC School Safety Coalition.

Mayor Adams lauded the school safety agent and promised the suspect will “be brought to justice.”

“It’s unacceptable,” Adams said. “Violence in our schools is not acceptable.”