By JOSEPH KELLARD
The incident began after undercover officers of the Bureau of Special Operations, stationed in banks on Grand Avenue, spotted a car they believe was used in numerous other robberies around the county. The car pulled up in front of a Bank of America, but then quickly sped away. Police gave chase, but their pursuit ended quickly when the suspects¹ car crashed into a tree, at which point one of its occupants jumped out of the car and pointed a .38-caliber revolver at police. An officer responded by firing at least six shots at him, police said. All five suspects in the car then fled on foot.
Once word spread about the shooting and the suspects who were at large, 1st Precinct police ordered the Baldwin school district to lock its doors, and to prevent anyone from entering or leaving school buildings without official clearance. Other area school districts followed suit strictly as a precaution, though Oceanside responded later than others.
As events unfolded that morning, Superintendent Dr. Herb Brown recounted, Oceanside received a call at about 10:15 a.m. from a woman in Baldwin who said the schools there were locked down due to police activity. ³I immediately called the inspector of the 4th Precinct, Richard McCarrick,² Brown said. ³... He discussed the situation with me, and I asked if we should lock down, too. He said it was not necessary.²
Brown then learned that in addition to Baldwin, Rockville Centre, Freeport, Hempstead, Lynbrook, East Rockaway and Merrick schools subsequently locked their doors as a precaution, but, he said, he received no calls from other superintendents. News 12 then began listing the school districts that had locked their doors. ³It started mushrooming, and as more districts got on to News 12, the more parents started calling their local districts asking, ŒWhy aren¹t you locked down?¹² Brown said. ³... So we started getting so many phone calls that about 11:30 we did a lockdown.²
Like the other affected school districts, Oceanside kept students in their classrooms and conducted business as usual. At 2:15, Brown said, after he had spoken to other superintendents, he decided to lift the lockdown. ³At that point, Baldwin was told that they didn¹t have to continue their lockdown, and they could dismiss school,² Brown said. ³So when Baldwin was told that, everyone else lifted their lockdown.²
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
