Buffalo Police said late Thursday that they had a 17-year-old male in custody in connection with an incident that occurred a day prior at McKinley High School in which a 14-year-old boy was stabbed and a security guard was shot.
Buffalo Police tweeted the news at 10:49 p.m. and said the investigation is still ongoing.
Twenty-four hours after the incident that drew dozens of police and had worried parents waiting for hours for their children who were locked down inside the school, a clearer picture of what took place Wednesday afternoon in the parking lot outside the Elmwood Avenue school began to emerge.
Police have not released a name or a description of the suspect.
Yet there were still many questions about what happened and how to better protect Buffalo's schools.
The president of the Buffalo teachers union said that teachers have been calling for better security for years at McKinley and other schools. The union is calling for an outside investigation by state and federal authorities into safety at Buffalo schools.
People are also reading…
Parents were left to stand outside well after nightfall waiting for their children who were being released one by one.Â
Police provided no name or details about any charges against the teenager in custody, but a police source earlier Thursday told The Buffalo News that investigators were looking for two suspects in the incident.
Police are also piecing together what led to the incident.
Tensions had been brewing this week between two groups of students at McKinley, the police source said.
The groups encountered each other about 20 minutes after school let out in the parking lot south of the school building.
A student was stabbed in the chest and abdomen. Other students at the scene pulled the bleeding boy into the building and tried to help him, applying pressure to his wounds while they waited for police and paramedics to arrive, the source said.
Mayor Byron Brown and other law enforcement officials give an update after a shooting at McKinley High School on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022.
In response to the shooting, McKinley has switched to remote learning for the rest of the week.
The security officer, who is believed to have been unarmed, was shot in the leg.
The security officer was back home after being treated and released at Erie County Medical Center.
The student remained at Oishei Children's Hospital in stable condition.
Students and teachers at McKinley High School were back to remote learning from their homes Thursday and Friday and possibly for longer because of the violent incident in the school parking lot.
Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash offered no public statements on the incident Thursday.
"The district will not be having a press conference or press release today. As previously stated, our students’ health and well-being are our top priority and plans are being executed across the district to support students, faculty and parents. The Superintendent will likely provide an update tomorrow afternoon regarding the reopen plan for McKinley High School," an email from district spokesman Ka'Ron Barnes to the media said.
Deputy Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia updates members of the media after a shooting outside McKinley High School on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022.
Phil Rumore, president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation, met with the executive board Thursday. The board unanimously passed a resolution calling for an investigation by state and federal authorities of the safety of Buffalo schools.
The resolution listed multiple incidents at McKinley dating back to October, including an incident in which the union said a student threatened to shoot a teacher. It also listed incidents at other schools, including one Monday about a block away from Math, Science and Technology Preparatory School when a gunman fired shots. Nobody was struck.
"Despite our continued correspondence, grievances and other legal actions directed to the Buffalo Public Schools District, our kids remain unsafe," the resolution said.
He shared a letter sent to Cash in December specifically about McKinley. He said two videos recently had surfaced of fights at McKinley that students were sharing. In the letter, he called for more support for teachers, more school resource officers and more intervention programs.
Cash, who spoke to reporters Wednesday outside the school, acknowledged at that news conference that McKinley had experienced some problems this school year.
A fight that led to a 14-year-old student being severely stabbed and a security guard shot in the leg outside Buffalo’s McKinley High School s…
"We've had bumps here ... much of the year," Cash said.Â
Following the Wednesday incident, the school switched to remote learning for the rest of the week. Cash said that could extend through next week up until the scheduled February break to give school officials time to come up with a plan to "reset" the school.
"We are going to reset McKinley in a phased approach," he said.
