Benjamin Cardozo High School threat: Heightened security after student found with gun in backpack after social media threat
Students at a high school in Queens will see heightened security after police stopped a possible school shooting.
Officers found a loaded handgun inside of teen's backpack after he posted disturbing images on social media.
The threat was posted on Instagram just after 10:15 a.m. Thursday , when the 16-year-old student was at school in Bayside.
Police found a handgun loaded with 13 rounds in his backpack.
Eyewitness News obtained a picture of the threat the teen posted on Instagram.
It looks like schoolwork with white text typed out over it including the words, "Ts Gmt... boutta shoot the school up."
Authorities believe the letters stood for, "this (expletive) gets me tight," in other words, "makes me angry."
Someone contacted the FBI about the threat, they identified the phone number behind the Instagram account, geotagged it to Benjamin Cardozo High School in Queens and alerted the NYPD who got in contact with the school.
The 16-year-old sophomore, who has no criminal history, was taken out of the classroom and arrested a little more than two hours after the threat was posted on Instagram.
"One of the student's parents was then contacted and consented to a search of the subject's belongings," NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. "In his backpack, officers recovered a black semi-automatic handgun, a 9mm Taurus GX4. The gun was loaded with 13 rounds in the magazine."
The student also apparently had three phones.
As many know there's a school cell phone ban and students are required to turn in their phone at the beginning of the school day.
Only one of the student's phones was handed over.
This has shocked the community. Cardozo High School is a no scan school which means they do not scan students or their belongings with metal detectors.
The school had no gun related offenses in the past year.
"Someone saw the post from the student and did what we ask all New Yorkers to do. If you see something, say something, but most importantly do something, and that is what they did," Mayor Eric Adams said.
"We don't want any of that kind of threat to be around our neighborhood," a resident said.
At this time, it is not yet known what repercussions or charges this teen could be facing, but you can imagine safety will be top of mind here at school Friday morning.
The mayor said his message to parents at this school was to hug their kids, and to students he said, "Take care of yourselves and talk to someone if you need to speak about this incident. Don't bottle it up inside."
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