SandyMalonePhiladelphia, PA – Police have release surveillance video of a teenager with a gun who tried to gain entrance to a school the day after the Florida school shooting.
Philadelphia Police said the young man attempted to enter Frederick Douglas Mastery Charter School with a gun in his hand at about 3:20 p.m. on Feb. 15, according to ABC News.
On the video, the teen can be seen carrying a gun when he first approached the school.
Police said he racked the slide and put the weapon in his pocket, WTFX reported.
He tried to open the door but it was locked. Then he tried knocking, but nobody answered immediately, so he left, police said. No shots were fired.
Shyema Boone, whose two little brothers attend the charter school, said security was tight at Frederick Douglas.
“You gotta push the doorbell for them to ring you in,” Boone told WTFX.
She said the school has surveillance cameras all the way around it, and visitors get scrutinized on camera before they’re buzzed in to the school.
But she’s still worried about her younger brothers, who were 11 and 14 years old.
“I’m scared. I’m scared for their life,” Boone told WTFX.
“They need to find him because he could be going around to any school. Probably doesn’t go here. He’s just a bully,” she said.
The scare at the Frederick Douglas charter school was the second in Philadelphia since a former student gunned down 17 classmates and faculty at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on Valentine’s Day.
On Friday morning, WTFX reported that a student tipped off officials after she saw a student with a gun at Wagner Middle School.
“What this speaks to is the importance of something we hammer down every day, which is see something say something,” Philadelphia Police Sergeant Eric Gripp told WTFX.
The gun at Wagner Middle School turned out to be a toy, but the scare caused a four-hour lockdown and search of the school by police.
The 12-year-old boy who brought it was charged Monday with possessing a gun in school, WTFX reported.
Police were looking for the suspect who tried to get in Frederick Douglas on Thursday, and said he was believed to be between 13 and 16 years old. Anyone with information was asked to contact Central Detectives.