On Thursday, September 18th, a 16-year-old student at Benjamin Cardozo High School in Queens was arrested after police found a loaded handgun in his backpack. The arrest followed an Instagram threat in which the teen allegedly warned he would “shoot the school up.” The FBI traced the account to the school and alerted the NYPD.
Officers and school safety agents located the student in class and, with a parent’s consent, searched his backpack. They recovered a 9mm Taurus GX4 pistol loaded with 13 rounds along with several cellphones. No injuries were reported.
Mayor Eric Adams addressed the incident, stressing the importance of school safety. He emphasized that the quick action of federal and local law enforcement prevented what could have been a tragedy.
The NYC School Safety Coalition also responded, thanking “the individual who alerted the FBI, our School Safety Agents, and the NYPD for protecting our children.” The group noted that Cardozo is not a scanning school and stressed the need for more security measures to prevent future incidents.
The teen now faces charges of criminal possession of a weapon and making terroristic threats.
