Manhattan High School Placed on Lockdown After Gun Scare; Police Recover ‘Imitation Weapon'

A Manhattan high school was placed on lockdown Thursday after someone brought an imitation gun onto the campus, officials said.

Students and parents at A. Philip Randolph Campus High School on West 135th Street in Harlem panicked after reports suggested that one or two gunmen were on the loose in the hallways.

The school was placed on lockdown, but the lockdown was lifted after it turned out someone had brought an “imitation weapon” onto the campus, a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Education said.

The NYPD tweeted that it had taken a suspect into custody and recovered an “imitation pistol” following the scare. The school’s principal said the weapon was a BB gun.

“Safety always comes first, and the NYPD swiftly and safely recovered an imitation weapon from A. Philip Randolph Campus High School, and the lockdown has been lifted,” the DOE spokesperson said. “All students and staff are safe, and we will take appropriate follow-up action.”

Inside the school, students huddled in the cafeteria and under desks, unsure what was going on in the halls. Outside the school, panicked parents texted their kids to find out if they were safe.

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“Even now, I just texted him and he said he was still hiding on the third floor. I just texted him and asked if it’s OK for him to leave and he said no,” a parent named Letticia Brown told NBC 4 New York before the lockdown was lifted.

One student told News 4 it was “scary not knowing” what was happening during the lockdown.

Chris Brown, the uncle of a student at the school, questioned why metal detectors at the school didn’t detect the imitation weapon.

“It’s a metal detector — what does it cost to go one extra step to protect the kids?” he asked.