While preparing the classroom for the upcoming school year, a Bronx middle school teacher was grazed by a stray bullet on Wednesday, according to local police.
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the 33-year-old teacher was injured just before noon on Wednesday when a bullet shattered the window of his sixth-floor classroom, grazing his right hand.
The teacher was transported to a nearby hospital, St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was treated for what police described as non-life-threatening injuries, and he is said to be in stable condition, local ABC News affiliate WABC reported.
There were no students present in the school at the time, since classes are scheduled to begin on Thursday for New York City public schools.
When reached for further comment via email, the NYPD directed Newsweek to press conference remarks in which police clarified the “bullet was not fired inside the school, and at this point in the investigation, we believe it was fired from a long distance away. The school was not targeted.”
NYPD School Safety patrol cars are seen parked outside a school on the Lower East Side of Manhattan on March 15, 2012. On Wednesday, a Bronx middle school teacher was grazed by a stray bullet.
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In addition, WABC reported police were said to be going floor by floor through the apartment complex across the street, where they believe the shot likely was fired.
The investigation remains ongoing and no arrests have been made thus far.
The New York City Department of Education has also issued a statement condemning the violence.
“This egregious display of violence is both upsetting and reprehensible,” a spokesperson for the city Department of Education said in a statement to The Associated Press. “NYPD immediately responded to the scene where one educator sustained non-life-threatening injuries. We will provide additional support to this school community.”
The incident occurred on the same day as a school shooting in Winder, Georgia, that left four dead and injured at least nine more.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) identified the suspect Wednesday afternoon as 14-year-old student Colt Gray.
The agency confirmed four casualties, including two students and two teachers, and nine hospitalized after the mass shooting on Wednesday morning. Gray is in custody, and he will be charged with murder and tried as an adult according to the GBI.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said during a press conference this afternoon that the shooting was first reported at 9:30 a.m. local time. Smith called the shooting an “evil thing” and said the investigation is “active and ever-developing.”
Meanwhile, as city officials continue to investigate the source of the gunfire in the Bronx, the incident has reignited concerns over safety in schools and the surrounding communities.
According to Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, an independent, non-partisan organization dedicated to reducing gun violence in the U.S., there are a total of 848 incidents of gunfire on school grounds from 2013 through 2021. Of these incidents, 573 occurred on the grounds of a preschool, elementary, middle or high school, resulting in 188 deaths and 392 people wounded and nearly half (at least 46 percent) of the victims in these incidents were students.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
