The gun found in a teen’s backpack just hours after he threatened to shoot up Benjamin N. Cardozo High School was legally purchased in South Carolina as the NYPD stepped up safety measures around the Queens school, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Friday.
Metal detectors were put in place Friday at the high school — the day after the 16-year-old student was busted after allegedly threatening on social media to shoot up the school.
The teen, who has not been name, is facing charges of gun possession and making terroristic threats. A court appearance is pending.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating how the gun wound up in the hands of the suspect, Tisch said.
Tisch said metal detectors will be used at the Bayside school “for the foreseeable future” and that when students showed up Friday morning for class there was a stepped up police presence. The use of metal detectors in NYC schools is determined on a building by building basis.
The student, a 10th grader at Cardozo. posted on Instagram at 10:17 a.m. Thursday a picture of what looked like a school worksheet with the caption “Ts Gmt boutta shoot the school up” — using an acronym Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said means, “this s**t gets me tight,” officials said.
The arrest took place after the Federal Bureau of Investigation alerted the NYPD about the student’s disturbing social media post.
Tisch also said a two 9mm bullets were found during a consent search of the teen’s bedroom closet
