The number of weapons seized in New York City schools has risen nearly 50 percent so far this year, the city’s police department said last week.
Between July 1 and Oct. 1, police seized 328 weapons, a 48 percent increase compared with the same period last year, Assistant Chief Brian Conroy said at a news conference.
An 18-year-old student brought a switchblade knife to his Bronx high school late last month and stabbed two classmates, one fatally—the first homicide in one of the city’s public schools since 1993.
Authorities say they don’t know whether the increase in seizures means more students are bringing weapons to school or whether the department has gotten better at finding them. But crime among school-age children has dropped.
