Police arrested a 17-year-old student who tried to push through campus security at the main entrance on Lehman campus while brandishing what appeared to be a gun on Sept. 19. The campus staff began shouting as they tried to stop the intruder. The campus initiated a shelter-in-place at 8:50 a.m., which meant that people inside the building couldn’t leave and those waiting on the outside terrace couldn’t enter the school.

The “weapon” turned out to be an imitation soft pistol and the campus lifted the shelter-in place at 9:38 a.m., allowing students waiting on the terrace into the school. Five of the six schools on campus start classes at 8:15 a.m. At the time of the incident, the students waiting to get inside had dwindled to late arrivals and students from Lehman High School, which starts at 9 a.m.

The police did not identify the suspect, who attends one of the schools on campus.

While the situation was resolved without anyone being hurt, students and staff want better protocols in place to ensure student safety when such threats occur.
Stephanie DeCicco, a teacher who serves as the school’s union chapter leader and a member of the campus safety committee, recommended steps to improve student safety. “I think that in the future if there is a threat like that during entrance or dismissal, we need to take care of the students by placing them in a safe place like the cafeteria or the football field,’’ she said.

Loumari Garcia, a senior at Bronx River High School, deemed the situation distressing and confusing. “When I arrived, the safety agents weren’t telling people what was going on and were holding all the students back from the building,’’ she said. “Confusion is what everyone was feeling. I was a bit scared but in the end, I just ended up going home to avoid the commotion.”

Shoumo Nath, a senior at Bronx River High School, worries about the danger students who were left outside could have faced. “It’s concerning that instead of letting students in for safety, they were instead closing them off,’’ he said. “I understand it’s protocol but at the end of the day, if it was a real gun we would be sitting ducks for the shooter. ”

Tene Kelly, an assistant principal, said that students played an important role in helping identify the suspect, which allowed the school day to resume more quickly.

Cesar Jimenez contributed to this story.