By COLlive reporter
A suspicious individual who vandalized the security booth at the Bais Rivkah School building on Crown Street in Crown Heights caused a 20-minute lockdown of the entire building on Thursday.
At approximately 9:15 am, a man approached the security booth in the parking lot located on Montgomery Street behind the building, and was asked by the security guard if he worked at the school, the school said.
When the guard attempted to keep the man, who was speaking incoherently, from approaching the building, the man smashed the glass window of the security booth, and then left towards Nostrand Avenue, the school informed.
The security guard immediately followed protocol, a source in the school told COLlive. He called for an immediate lockdown of the entire building, which contains High School, Seminary and preschool classrooms.
The hundreds of students were in various locations throughout the school, some in classrooms and many in the Shul.
They remained calm and quiet throughout the incident, the school said.
The police were immediately called, and are searching for the suspect, who is described as a white male.
They determined that the building is safe and activities resumed as usual, the school said.
The gates of the school will remain locked while police search for the suspect. They will continue to check the location throughout the day, they said.
Shomrim patrol volunteers later located the suspect, who seemed to be mentally ill, they said. He is in police custody.
Butalthough we are careful to protect our schools & our kinderlach B’goshmius, who is in charge of making sure that every mezzuzah in every school is Mehudar, kosher, and placed correctly? Obviously this must be an urgent priority!
What will it take for the school “board” to hire armed security guards for the school???? Why is there Charidy this and Charidy that for all types of things yet not a simple armed guard. The tuition is sky high, one of the highest in Brooklyn, and they can’t seem to find the funds to bore an armed guard. Really? Really? What does some Yukel in a booth help in a situation like this? Where are the “leaders” of this and other schools in the neighborhood??? Do we really need another playground or another building more than safety ??? Who… Read more »
with all due respect ,why can’t they put surveillance cameras on or inside the booth??????.then you can get a picture of his face
Good thing that protocol was followed
i watch the videos and I cry …. I have a few daughters in beis rivkah .. and the lack of security is SCARY !!!! What if chas veshalom the “cary” man was armed?? he kills the gard in 20 seconds and enters school and then what …..???? What if he had someone with him that was waiting to go in and this “crazy” man was just a distraction ?? the guard literalty walked away from the school gete to follow him !!! how safe is that ?????? WHY DIDNT THE GUARD PUT THE CRAZY MAN TO THE FLOOR ASAP… Read more »
because then the security guard would be charged… (only if he was directly threatened could he take action)
Security guards don’t have the same rights as policeman
That was very scary
We were in lockdown for an hr and a half not 20 min
We were in lock down from the second we finished davening. Mrs tachtel told us calmly we are on lockdown and we should stay in shul and be super quiet and study. Some became hysterical and others thought it was a joke. Like 10 mins later we were dismissed to go to our classrooms. 2 mins later we were told to go back to the shul, it was a stamped so the security guard, who was actually amazing, told us to go back to our classrooms and close the lights. Some classes went in full lockdown and shut the doors… Read more »
The security guard was amazing. After the lockdown was over she came around to make sure we were all ok! Also the teachers were very good at keeping us calm and after it was over went over to girls who were in panic asking if they were ok!
These schools need practice lock downs hashems kinderlach need to be safe . It’s not ok we crown Heights needs to take action And stand up for anti Semititsim I’m flabbergasted and shell shocked by this behavior!!
Let’s look at the bigger pucture.
Shomrim found him & said he’s mentally ill!!!!!!!!
Why are there so many NEW mentally ill people living IN crown heights????
Because look we have a few mental homes in CH and a few homeless shelters sadly
1) The elected officials are not accountable to the people and therefore the special interests control. 2) There has been a huge increase in “supportive housing buildings” ( housing for mentally ill) in Crown Heights. 3) There is a big problem with “volunteer community boards” like Community Board #9 in CH and how they sell out the community to advance their own interests. Many of the Jews on the community board have commercial real estate interests or receive public funds from NYS and look the other way, when they should be standing up and fighting for the community’s interest. 4)… Read more »
Because there is a homeless shelter in crown heights, that’s why !!!!!!!!