After a Friday gun incident, there were gun checks at Paterson's JFK High
PATERSON — Students waiting to get screened by metal detectors stood in long lines at John F. Kennedy High School on Monday morning as officials implemented new security measures after last week’s gun incident.
District officials said heightened security like the metal detectors would be in place at all Paterson high schools “until further notice” because three guns were seized at Kennedy last Friday.
The gun checks at Kennedy progressed slowly, and more than 100 students remained in line at 10 a.m., the delayed start of school on Monday.
“We’re not going to speed this up, because we don’t want to put anyone in jeopardy,” the school district’s security director, Dalton Price, said during a press conference at Kennedy.
Sandra Rivera, whose granddaughter attends Kennedy, scowled at officials as they spoke at the microphone.
“They’re not doing enough. They’re just trying to cover their butts,” Rivera said, disputing officials' assurances about student safety.
Parents and some Kennedy employees said the weapon checks at Kennedy should become permanent, especially in a city plagued by gun violence. But students shrugged off the threat of guns in the school. Students and staff members said the school screened for guns a few other times in recent years, but never did anything sustained.
“Come back in a week and see if it’s still here,” a longtime teacher, who declined to give his name, said of the extra security.
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“The level of violence in this building has risen tremendously in the last two years,” added the teacher, who said he was hit by a student in 2021.
A mother who was dropping off her daughter outside Kennedy said the metal detectors should be part of the everyday security at the school.
“It should be just like the airport,” she said.
One gun was found on a 17-year-old student involved in a hallway brawl, and a second was on a 15-year-old student who tried to get inside the school during the fight but couldn’t because the doors had been locked, authorities said. The third gun was found on an 18-year-old man who was standing outside Kennedy, next to the 15-year-old, police said.
Officials have not revealed what prompted Friday’s fight. In the past, disputes among Paterson’s street gangs have spilled into its schools. Police officials have not disclosed whether they think Friday’s incident had anything to do with Paterson’s gang problem.
A man who is the father of two students at Kennedy said he had misgivings about sending his children — a senior and a sophomore — to school on Monday.
“Three guns? People trying to get inside? It’s out of control,” said the father, who declined to give his name. “They have to figure out some better security.”
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On Monday morning, the father called his son and daughter and gave them some last-minute words of caution just before they entered the building.
“I told them, ‘Keep your eyes open. If you see a large crowd, walk the other way. Be safe,’” he recounted.
In contrast to the adults’ concerns, students who were interviewed as they arrived at school on Monday shrugged off last week’s incident.
“It’s just another day at Kennedy,” said a 15-year-old girl who is in her sophomore year. “It’s nothing unusual.”
“It’s not something to be afraid of,” said an 18-year-old senior. “This happens everywhere.”
“It’s normal,” another senior said about the guns. “With all the gangs, you know there’s always somebody with something.”
Paterson has had more than 120 shootings this year, and teenagers have been involved in many of those incidents.
Paterson Press compiled data from news releases issued by the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office and Paterson Police Department and found that about 40 teens have been arrested in connection with gun crimes in the city in 2022, including five on murder charges and three for attempted murder.
Teens also were the victims in more than 20% of the city's shootings this year, Paterson Press found. They included three homicide victims this year and at least 23 others who suffered non-fatal gunshot wounds.
Authorities over the weekend announced that a fourth person was arrested in Friday morning’s gun incident at Kennedy.
In addition to the three teenagers accused of having guns at Kennedy, a 14-year-old was charged with making terroristic threats for allegedly saying he was going to shoot someone in the school, the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office said in a news release issued Sunday morning.
The Prosecutor’s Office said the 15-year-old found with a gun outside the school also made threats that he would commit a shooting inside Kennedy. Authorities identified the 18-year-old who was charged with gun possession and other crimes as Desmar Ferguson.
School officials credited Kennedy teacher John Sebastian for intervening during the hallway brawl. They said the situation could have turned out much worse if not for the teacher.
A video of the incident shows Sebastian — who is 58 years old — scrambling on the hallway floor trying to separate combatants, even as the teens continued throwing punches at each other. Sebastian has been working at Kennedy since September.
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press.
Email: editor@patersonpress.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson's JFK High School has gun checks
