Students walks away without firing a shot.
By Raif Karerat
A teenager is in custody after allegedly threatening a student with a gun at the Community College of Philadelphia and prompting a lockdown of the school’s campus.
Authorities say it initially appears that the incident began as an argument between the 17-year-old suspect and a student at the school. Police say during the dispute, the teen pulled a gun, threatened the student and then walked away without firing a shot.
Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told reporters Tuesday that the boy was arrested shortly before noon Tuesday at an adjoining educational facility at the college.
After witnesses told authorities that the suspect was seen entering the Winnet Building on campus, police immediately set up a staging area outside of the college and SWAT teams descended upon the campus.
They went floor to floor, room to room inside the facility searching for the gunman, who was apprehended a couple hours later inside a classroom, reported CBS Philly.
Ramsey said the encounter was not random but rather “two individuals who have a history.” He says the person who reported the gun at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday was a student; it’s unclear whether the suspect is.
The lockdown came just days after the FBI issued a warning regarding an online threat against Philadelphia-area colleges and universities, reported the Associated Press.
However, authorities believe the incident at CCP was an isolated incident and unrelated to the prior threat.
Gun violence in schools has recently occupied the forefront of the American consciousness, which was rendered especially raw following the fatal shooting of ten individuals at Umpqua Community College in Oregon last week.