A 15-year-old boy has been arrested and charged in connection with the shooting of another boy near Maspeth High School on Wednesday.
Police say the 15-year-old was arrested Wednesday night and faces charges of attempted murder, criminal possession of a weapon on school grounds, assault and reckless endangerment.
The shooting happened just before 2 p.m. Wednesday about a block away from the school, authorities say.
The 17-year-old victim ran into the school after being shot in the left arm, according to police. He was transported to Elmhurst Hospital and is expected to survive his injuries.
The school was put on a “hard lockdown” immediately afterwards, according to Department of Education Spokesperson Nathaniel Tyler. That lockdown was lifted just before 3 p.m., the NYPD’s School Safety Division announced via Twitter.
A student NY1 spoke with said it was a scary afternoon during the hours-long lockdown.
“I had no information from the outside; the school really didn't let us know. We had to find out on our own,” said a student that wanted to go by the initials G.I.
Both the 15-year-old and 17-year-old are students at Maspeth High School, police say. Police sources tell NY1 that the 17-year-old is the son of a police officer.
Police previously interviewed two persons of interest Wednesday in the aftermath of the shooting, but they were deemed not to be connected to the incident and were released.
According to the NYPD, the number of shooting victims under the age of 18 increased from 2019, when five teenagers died. In 2020, 10 died, and last year 21 teens were killed as a result of gun violence.
Thirty-nine people under the age of 18 have been shot in New York City as of April 10 of this year, according to the NYPD. Two have died, according to police.
On Thursday morning, students showed up to school to find a heavy police presence, metal detectors and scanners. The School Safety Officers Union said they recovered three tasers during the morning, but no guns or knives. One student said he noticed smaller attendance and believes students were afraid to come to school.
“I was worried at first, but the way school was today I feel they took really good care of it so I will be coming every day,” said student Fardeen Zaman.
Maspeth students say they're relieved politicians and police are paying attention and they hope this sparks a change.
“I hope that the administration takes this as a lesson to start watching out,” said student Marlene Perez.
As for how long the extra security detail will remain at Maspeth high school, the NYPD said it does not discuss security deployments.