FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM DECEMBER 13, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 17
male victim inside of the high school
at 57-00 223rd St. Th e perpetrator
engaged in a verbal dispute with the
victim, authorities said, before slashing
him in the head with an “unknown
sharp weapon.”
Th e student was taken to a nearby
hospital and is being treated for
non-life-threatening injuries. The
school promptly went on lockdown as
police investigated the assault.
Th e lockdown lasted in excess of 2
1/2 hours. Students who were arriving
for later classes could not get inside the
building due to the lockdown, but were
allowed to get in at about 11:40 a.m.
According to a source affi liated with
the school, a ninth-grade student was
stabbed by the suspect. Th e source
alleged that the assailant may have been
accompanied by two other students.
Aft er the incident, the victim ran
down to the lunch room gushing blood,
according to the source, before heading
to the school’s emergency room.
Th e source said that the incident was
caught on camera and that authorities
knew the identity of the suspect, who
had fl ed the school and headed in the
direction of Springfi eld Boulevard.
Photos and videos of the incident
posted by students were circulated on
social media.
“Nobody is going to do anything to
me. I’m not going to do anything to
them. So yeah, I feel safe,” said one of
the locked out students, who declined
to give his name.
Meanwhile, one parent of a 15-yearold
daughter arrived at the scene and
expressed anxiety over the situation.
“I’m nervous, scared for my kid,”
said the mother, who also declined to
give her name.
Erica Diaz, who waited outside the
school for about an hour for her siblings,
said that “it’s not the fi rst time
something has happened in the school.”
She added, “I don’t understand why
there hasn’t been metal detectors or
anything of that sort added to the
school, considering that there’s been
bomb threats here and now there’s a
stabbing.”
A Cardozo school offi cial addressed
parents and the press at around 11 a.m.
on Dec. 11 and said that the lockdown
would soon be lift ed.
“We’re currently in a lockdown only
because we want to ensure that the
building is clean and safe for our students
and staff , and shortly, the lockdown
will be lift ed,” the offi cial said.
“I’m only sent out here to discuss this
with the parents to ensure that the students
are safe. We’re just doing this as a
safety precaution.” Th e offi cial declined
to provide further details about the incident.
An offi cial statement on the Cardozo
High School website noted that the
incident occurred at 8:48 a.m., and
that the lockdown will remain in place
“until the investigation is complete.”
“Th e building is safe, there is no
eminent (sic) threat, however we will
remain in lockdown until the police
investigation is complete. We will continue
to post more information as we
get it via this media,” the statement
noted.
City beefs up security
at Cardozo school
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
Following the slashing at Benjamin N.
Cardozo High School in Bayside, the school
and Department of Education (DOE) are taking
extra precautions for enhanced safety.
But some believe that more should be
done to keep one of Queens’ best public high
schools safe.
Sources familiar with Cardozo High School
told QNS on Dec. 12 that students and staff
went through metal detectors that morning
as an additional safety measure in light of the
incident that led to a 2 1/2-hour lockdown.
Th e attack transpired on Dec. 11 when the
15-year-old suspect confronted the 14-yearold
victim and engaged in a verbal dispute.
Th e suspect produced an “unidentifi ed sharp
object” and slashed the student in the head.
According to an offi cial statement from the
school, the NYPD conducted an investigation
on Tuesday and administrators said they
were “taking additional safety measures at the
school.”
“Our Guidance Counselors, along with our
Community Based Mental Health Agency will
be providing support and guidance to the
entire school community,” the school statement
noted. “We assure you that every precaution
was taken and will continue to be taken
to ensure the safety of our students and staff .”
Miranda Bardot, a Department of Education
spokesperson, acknowledged in a statement
released shortly aft er the Dec. 11 lockdown
that additional security measures would be
taken.
At a gun violence town hall earlier this year,
Mayor Bill de Blasio said that only 90 schools
of the city’s more than 1,000 have full-time
metal detectors. Gregory Floyd, president of
the School Safety Agents Union, told the Daily
News that Benjamin Cardozo is one of the
high schools that do not have metal detectors
in their facilities.
All other DOE public middle and high
schools are subject to unannounced scannings
throughout the year, according to New
York City law. Schools may also be chosen for
random scanning when there is a reasonable
threat to the safety of the community.
But Floyd thinks that these random scannings
are not enough and have called for permanent
metal detectors in more schools.
In an open letter to the mayor, Floyd advocated
for the use of metal detectors in all public
high schools. He penned the letter following
a stabbing in a Bronx high school in Sept.
2017.
“Th e Mayor, the Chancellor and the Civil
Liberties Union have been chief proponents
of lessening the use of metal detectors based
on the theory that they create a punitive environment
that impedes learning,” Floyd wrote
in the letter.
He added that the de Blasio Administration
established an “educational task force” which
recommended that school safety personnel
should not intervene in behaviors like disorderly
conduct, use of racial or other slurs or
“bullyism” — which were labeled “normative
child and adolescent behaviors” — “absent a
real and immediate threat of serious injury to
a member of the school community.”
Photo submitted by Glenda Espinosa
The victim being transported out of Cardozo High School
A trail of blood following the stabbing inside
a hallway at Cardozo High School (Photo
courtesy of Cliff Prasad)
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