CLASS WARFARE
Bullet whizzes by students in B’klyn school
A bullet shattered a window and flew through a classroom at Victory Collegiate H Sin Canarsie yesterday, sending terrified students fleeing into the halls.
A stray bullet whizzed through a window at a Brooklyn high school Tuesday morning — straight into a classroom full of students having a holiday party, police and witnesses said.
The shot narrowly missed at least one girl’s head and lodged into an interactive white board as panic ensued in the classroom at Victory Collegiate HS in the South Shore Educational Complex in Canarsie.
“I thought it was somebody shooting in the school at first because it sounded that near to me. I was so scared,’’ said Shahadah Johnson, 17, who was in the fourth-floor classroom when the bullet came through the window around 11:30 a.m. “We all just got up and started running.”
No one was injured, according to the city Department of Education.
The 22 students and their teacher were getting ready for a party in their classroom at the time.
Several gunshots could be heard outside before the bullet flew into the room, according to the teens. Police sources said the shooter had been involved in a verbal dispute.
“Everyone turned their attention to the window, and then we heard the glass shatter,” said a student who didn’t want to be named.
“Then we looked at the Smart Board, and there was a hole in [it],” the teen added, referring to the classroom’s digital chalkboard.
Sophomore Denaysha Leckie, 15, recalled how the bullet whizzed past a girl’s ear.
“You couldn’t tell us to settle down,” Leckie said. “We didn’t even grab our bags or nothing. We just ran down the steps and into the cafeteria. The school was on lockdown.”
Johnson said the teacher broke down, with cops running frantically around the school.
“My teacher was crying. She had to leave school early,” the student said. “We didn’t get to have our party. All the pizza and cookies and ice cream is just sitting there. Somebody probably took it by now.”
The South Shore campus remained open for the day, despite the disturbing incident.
“My mom is probably not going to let me come to school tomorrow,’’ Johnson said, adding that “a lot of students in my school were talking about transferring.
“School is supposed to be safe, not ducking for bullets.”
Lyndia Joseph, 17, said students were told that the bullet was fired from the Glenwood Houses next door. Three shell casings were, in fact, recovered in front of 5901 Glenwood Ave.
Even students who weren’t in the classroom were rattled.
“South Shore has always been known to not be the safest school in the world, but something like this has never happened before,” said sophomore Miah Walker, 15. “I like my teachers and the education I’m getting, but this doesn’t make me feel good.”
Teamsters Local 237, the union that represents school-safety officers, said incidents such as the shooting are why its members who “work near housing developments are asking for [weapons] scanning to remain, and they are also asking for bulletproof vests.”