‘Teaching Bad’
Cops: Charter guy beat student over $4G pot debt
AT LEAST three people were killed and one person gravely wounded Friday when a gunman opened fire at a shopping mall in Washington State, police said.
A manhunt was underway for the shooter after authorities cleared the Cascade Mall in Burlington, about 65 miles north of Seattle, police said.
“Shooter(s) left scene b4 police arrived,” Washington State Patrol spokesman Sgt. Mark Francis tweeted.
Gunfire was reported in the mall’s Macy’s store around 7:30 p.m. local time and “workers and visitors (were) asked to shelter in place while the shooter was at the scene,” according to Q13-TV.
Police released a photo taken from mall security video showing the shooter, a Hispanic man who appeared to be holding a rifle.
Stephanie Bose, an assistant general manager at Johnny Carino’s Italian restaurant, said she locked the eatery’s doors after hearing about the shooting from an employee’s boyfriend.
“He was trying to go to the mall and people were screaming,” she said. “It was frantic.”
Shoppers and employees who were inside the mall were bused to a nearby church to meet with family. A 48-YEAR-OLD Bronx charter school teacher was arrested Friday for attacking a 16-year-old student who stiffed him during a drug buy, officials said.
Kevin Pope, a science teacher at the John V. Lindsay Wildcat Academy in Hunts Point, was arrested at 10 a.m. for beating the teen so badly doctors needed staples to close several deep wounds on the back of the victim’s head, police sources said.
Pope then stormed off with the teen’s gold chain, iPhone and wallet — apparent compensation for the money he lost in a botched marijuana buy involving the teen, cops said.
The alleged attack took place on Seneca Ave. near Hunts Point Ave. on Wednesday — about two blocks from the school.
Students at the charter school were stunned that the teacher — described as a “cool guy” — had been arrested.
“(He was) a straightup teacher,” said one student, who wished not to give his name. “He’d make you understand the lessons. I never knew him to be shady.”
Students said Pope was fairly new to the academy, a privately run, publicly funded charter school for older students who have dropped out of traditional schools or who have criminal histories. A spokesman for the school had no comment on Pope’s arrest when reached by phone Friday. The teen told Pope (photo) he had a drug connection in Manhattan in June. The pair went to see the dealer and Pope ponied up $4,000 for about a pound of weed, possibly in the hopes of reselling some of it, police sources said. But after the dealer asked for $7,000, the teen backed out of the deal and walked off with Pope’s money, cops said. On Wednesday, the troubled teacher approached the teen, demanding his money back. When the student didn’t fork over the cash, Pope attacked him and ran off with his property, cops said.
“You better get me my money or I will kill you!” the teacher said after the beating, sources said.
Pope was charged with assault and robbery. Dressed in a white dress shirt and light blue sports jacket, the Harlem resident was surprised to see reporters outside the 41st Precinct stationhouse as he was escorted to central booking.
“Really?” he asked before bowing his head, refusing to answer questions. Pope’s arraignment was pending Friday night.
Neighbors described Pope as a friendly soul who went out of his way to help building residents.
“He’s so nice,” said Shanti Smith, 16. “I see him every morning. He fixed my computer a couple of times when it had a virus.” LARRY SEABROOK, the disgraced city councilman from the Bronx serving a five-year sentence on federal corruption charges, can’t save his pension from prosecutors who are seizing it to pay his penalties, a federal appeals court ruled.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling allowing prosecutors to seize part of Seabrook’s pension to pay $418,000 in forfeiture penalties.
Seabrook gets a pension from the decades he spent as a councilman, state senator and state assemblyman.