A man believed to be a teacher in an after-school program at PS 97 Harvey Austin Elementary School was taken in questioning by police this evening after he was found carrying a handgun in the school that had been on lockdown mode for over two hours.
Two 911 calls about a man with a gun near the school made at about 3:45 p.m. prompted the dramatic lockdown.
Children ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade were kept in the cafeteria and dozens of police officers, including a SWAT team and K-9 units, searched the school building. The school was surrounded by police cars and the Erie County Sheriff’s helicopter hovered low overhead.
The teacher being questioned was not suspected of having any ill-intent but because of the situation, he is being closely questioned by detectives, Buffalo Police spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge said.
Police officials are confident that none of the students, other teachers and staffers who were at the school were in danger at any point.
The man being questioned apparently is not an employee of the Buffalo School District but was involved in the after-school program at the East Side school, DeGeorge said.
In the meantime, the children who had been locked down inside of School 97 were expected to be released to their parents this evening.
The students were loaded onto school buses at PS 97 at about 6:15 and then driven to PS 91 Build Academy on Fougeron Street, which had been designated as an evacuation gathering location.
Many frantic parents had gathered outside of Harvey Austin Elementary this afternoon in the sub-freezing cold and snow, desperate for information about the safety of their children as the dramatic search was under way.
Many parents found out about the situation at the school from cell phone calls and text messages from their children – and they were upset that they hadn’t learned about what was unfolding from school or police officials first.
“Is she safe? What is going on there?” questioned Melissa Green, whose daughter, Misty Allen, 13, was among the children in the after-school program at the school who were locked inside.
Without their daughter in their arms, Melissa Green and her husband, who had waited out the Sycamore Street school, could not be comforted by reports that police searches had not turned up a suspect or a gun.
“Is there actually a guy running around with a weapon? What’s going on in there?” Terry Green demanded to know.
Two calls were made to 911 claiming there was a man with a gun near the school, according to Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
During the lockdown, no one was allowed to leave as police conducted a methodical room by room search.
The worried parents grew agitated as they were turned away from the doors.
“They won’t tell us anything. The SWAT Team just went in the school. My daughter is in there and I’m trying to get in and get my daughter,” said parent Tamika Jones, who rushed to Harvey Austin after she learned from another parent about the situation.
Tameika Roberts made call after call on her cell phone as she waited for word about her five-year-old daughter, Taniyah Roberts.
“I want her out of there,” she said while the initial search was under way.
Melissa Maye’s two 11-year-old daughters called her crying during the ordeal.
“Somebody in the school has a gun,” they told their mother. The school is on lockdown. Nobody can get in and nobody can get out, they told her.
“If I have to pay money to get them a tutor, I will do that but they’re not coming back here again,” Maye said. “These are my children we are talking about.”
Renoda Pearson, the mother of an eighth-grader, was upset that she wasn’t getting any information from police or the school about what was going on.
“They need somebody out here telling us something,” she said during the first search.
Harvey Austin is one of a number of city schools that operates an after-school program. Jones said the program goes until 6 p.m. and was unsure how many students participate.
A Twitter user told The Buffalo News that he called his father, who works at the school. The father reported he was “OK” but locked in a room.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many students were inside the school during the ordeal.
Buffalo School Board President Barbara Seals Nevergold told The Buffalo News earlier in the afternoon that an incident happened at the school and the school officials followed protocol and called police.
Schools spokeswoman Elena Cala sent out the following in an email to School Board members: “An anonymous caller informed the school that there was a person with a gun in the neighborhood. The school went into lockdown mode. The police spokesperson confirmed an investigation of the area with heavy police presence. I will notify you as details become available.”
email: citydesk@buffnews.com
Two 911 calls about a man with a gun near the school made at about 3:45 p.m. prompted the dramatic lockdown.
Children ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade were kept in the cafeteria and dozens of police officers, including a SWAT team and K-9 units, searched the school building. The school was surrounded by police cars and the Erie County Sheriff’s helicopter hovered low overhead.
The teacher being questioned was not suspected of having any ill-intent but because of the situation, he is being closely questioned by detectives, Buffalo Police spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge said.
Police officials are confident that none of the students, other teachers and staffers who were at the school were in danger at any point.
The man being questioned apparently is not an employee of the Buffalo School District but was involved in the after-school program at the East Side school, DeGeorge said.
In the meantime, the children who had been locked down inside of School 97 were expected to be released to their parents this evening.
The students were loaded onto school buses at PS 97 at about 6:15 and then driven to PS 91 Build Academy on Fougeron Street, which had been designated as an evacuation gathering location.
Many frantic parents had gathered outside of Harvey Austin Elementary this afternoon in the sub-freezing cold and snow, desperate for information about the safety of their children as the dramatic search was under way.
Many parents found out about the situation at the school from cell phone calls and text messages from their children – and they were upset that they hadn’t learned about what was unfolding from school or police officials first.
“Is she safe? What is going on there?” questioned Melissa Green, whose daughter, Misty Allen, 13, was among the children in the after-school program at the school who were locked inside.
Without their daughter in their arms, Melissa Green and her husband, who had waited out the Sycamore Street school, could not be comforted by reports that police searches had not turned up a suspect or a gun.
“Is there actually a guy running around with a weapon? What’s going on in there?” Terry Green demanded to know.
Two calls were made to 911 claiming there was a man with a gun near the school, according to Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
During the lockdown, no one was allowed to leave as police conducted a methodical room by room search.
The worried parents grew agitated as they were turned away from the doors.
“They won’t tell us anything. The SWAT Team just went in the school. My daughter is in there and I’m trying to get in and get my daughter,” said parent Tamika Jones, who rushed to Harvey Austin after she learned from another parent about the situation.
Tameika Roberts made call after call on her cell phone as she waited for word about her five-year-old daughter, Taniyah Roberts.
“I want her out of there,” she said while the initial search was under way.
Melissa Maye’s two 11-year-old daughters called her crying during the ordeal.
“Somebody in the school has a gun,” they told their mother. The school is on lockdown. Nobody can get in and nobody can get out, they told her.
“If I have to pay money to get them a tutor, I will do that but they’re not coming back here again,” Maye said. “These are my children we are talking about.”
Renoda Pearson, the mother of an eighth-grader, was upset that she wasn’t getting any information from police or the school about what was going on.
“They need somebody out here telling us something,” she said during the first search.
Harvey Austin is one of a number of city schools that operates an after-school program. Jones said the program goes until 6 p.m. and was unsure how many students participate.
A Twitter user told The Buffalo News that he called his father, who works at the school. The father reported he was “OK” but locked in a room.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many students were inside the school during the ordeal.
Buffalo School Board President Barbara Seals Nevergold told The Buffalo News earlier in the afternoon that an incident happened at the school and the school officials followed protocol and called police.
Schools spokeswoman Elena Cala sent out the following in an email to School Board members: “An anonymous caller informed the school that there was a person with a gun in the neighborhood. The school went into lockdown mode. The police spokesperson confirmed an investigation of the area with heavy police presence. I will notify you as details become available.”
email: citydesk@buffnews.com