Cops: Student’s dad brings gun to a school fight

A Boston Public Schools dad flashed a gun outside Madison Park Vocational Technical School as he egged on a fight between student, cops say — though officers weren’t called at the time, drawing more criticism for the district.

According to a police report, shortly after 2:30 p.m. on May 13, there was an incident behind Madison Park that “supposedly involved two parents from the (next-door John D.) O’Bryant School that instigated a fight between their daughter and another student.”

Further, students told staff, one father “was ‘pulling at his waist area’ during the fight — and some of the onlookers, both students and staff, later said they saw a gun.

All this was told to police two hours after the fact, because, “At some point, it was realized that a Boston Police report needed to be filed,” Boston Police officers wrote in their report.

Assistant Head of Schools Terrance Johnson was on his way home around 4:40 p.m. when he did call 911 — and he ended up meeting up with police on Fowler Street in the Franklin Field area of Boston, around three miles from the vocational school in Roxbury.

He told police that a gym teacher had been on scene for at least some of the fight, and had summoned one of the school district’s “safety officers” on the radio. Both saw the gun, Johnson said, saying that when he himself and other staffers got there, it was already over, but he had a few videos of what had happened, and he shared those with the cops.

“Officers asked Johnson if he had any information on the students involved in the fight or information of the parents from the O’Bryant School but he was unable to or declined to indulge because of BPS regulations,” the police officers wrote. The man with the gun is just listed as a nameless “suspect-1” on the police report.

Asked for comment on the incident and when to call the cops, BPS deferred to the police department.

District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement that “reports of insufficient responses to dangerous situations in Boston schools are deeply disturbing.”

“We share a common concern to prevent court involvement, especially for juveniles, whenever possible,” Hayden said. “But there has to be a sensible balance between responsible reporting and follow up action, when necessary, to ensure the safety of students and staff.”

Last week, as reported by the Herald, a teacher had to drive herself to the doctor and then the police station after a principal wouldn’t call for emergency response when a student threw boiling water and hot noodles at them.