One day after the mass shooting at a Florida high school left 17 people dead, a teenager in Philadelphia was captured on camera attempting to enter a school with a gun in hand.
Surveillance footage from Philadelphia Police shows a teenager walking to a visitor entrance door at Frederick Douglass Mastery Charter School around 3:20 p.m on Thursday. The teenager, who has yet to be identified, is seen racking his weapon and placing it in his pocket before he attempts to open the door of the building.
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The door was locked, so the teen attempted to knock. Rather than wait, though, he turned around and left the scene.
Police said no shots were fired, but the suspect, who is believe to be between the ages or 13 and 16, is wanted for firearms violations.
Philadelphia resident Shyema Boone told local FOX 29 that she has two younger brothers, ages 11 and 14, who attend the school and admits she is “scared for their life.”
But despite her fears, Boone said security at Frederick Douglass Mastery is tight, with cameras throughout the entire school grounds. She said visitors are also recorded on camera as they wait to get buzzed inside and once inside, they can be subjected to a search.
“They need to find him because he could be going around to any school. Probably doesn’t go here. He’s just a bully,” Boone said when shown the video footage of the armed teen attempting to enter the building.
FOX 29 reports that this incident marks the second concern of a gun threat at Philadelphia schools in the 48 hours following the fatal attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on Valentine’s Day.
On Friday morning, a student tipped off school officials at Wagner Middle School after she saw another student with what turned out to be a toy gun. The threat caused a four hour lockdown and search by police, and the 12-year-old carrying the toy was charged Monday with possessing a gun in school.
“What this speaks to is the importance of something we hammer down every day, which is see something say something,” Police Sergeant Eric Gripp said Friday.
The threats and serious precautions come after 19-year-old confessed gunman Nikolas Cruz opened fire on his former high school in Parkland on Wednesday. Cruz has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, one for each of the students or staff members he killed during his rampage loaded with an AR-15 rifle, and he is expected to plead guilty to the charges.
