You are reading

Elected Officials Call for Community Response Following Shooting of 16-Year-Old Student Near Cardozo High School

Council Member Linda Lee (speaking) alongside Council Member Vickie Paladino and Congresswoman Grace Meng on Monday. They called for increased public safety in the wake of a shooting Friday near Benjamin N. Cardozo High School (Photo courtesy of Linda Lee’s office)

March 28, 2022 By Christian Murray

Several elected officials representing districts in eastern Queens held a press conference Monday to condemn a shooting that took place Friday just two blocks from Benjamin N. Cardozo High School in Oakland Gardens.

The officials gathered near the corner of Springfield Boulevard and Horace Harding Expressway where a 16-year-old boy was shot in the arm at around 3 p.m. by one of his fellow Cardozo High School students. The teen was taken to Northwell in stable condition and the incident prompted a school lockdown.

Council Member Linda Lee, joined by Congresswoman Grace Meng and Council Member Vickie Paladino, held the press conference to call on city officials to address public safety with a coordinated response.

They called for an increase in the number of officers at the 111th NYPD Precinct as well as more school safety agents. Additionally, they say extra school counselors and social workers are needed at Cardozo.

“We’re here today to call for a coordinated response…to get guns off the street, keep kids in school and out of trouble, and invest in their futures so they know there’s alternatives to violence out there,” Lee said. “What happened on Friday is as tragic as it is frightening, because if any student thinks it’s necessary to use a gun on someone else, we’ve failed them as a city.”

She said that she was thankful that no one was seriously injured or killed, noting that too many young people have lost their lives to gun violence in recent years.

Meanwhile, Meng said that it saddened her to see yet another shooting in Queens, particularly one so close to a school.

“Cardozo High School is one of the pillars of education in our community and to hear about one of the students getting injured due to gun violence just blocks away from the school breaks my heart. We have to stand up, as parents, students, teachers and everyday citizens to coordinate an end to this epidemic plaguing our community.”

Council Member Vickie Paladino was also at the press conference and said that the rise in gun violence stemmed from poor government policy.

“Unfortunately, this is the direct result of years of bad policy decisions which have rewarded and excused criminal behavior. My office is committed to reversing these policies and working closely with police, prosecutors, and the local community to restore public safety.”

Benjamin N. Cardozo High School located at 57-00 223rd St., Oakland Gardens (GMaps)

email the author: [email protected]
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Long Island ‘predator’ indicted on sex trafficking charges for forcing two victims into prostitution using violence, tattoos to intimidate them: DA

Mar. 29, 2023 By Bill Parry

A Long Island man was indicted on sex trafficking charges and faces up to 50 years in prison for allegedly forcing two women to engage in prostitution and assaulting and robbing them while weaponizing personalized tattoos as a twisted form of branding his victims, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced on March 29.

Met Council leader warns of ‘catastrophe’ for low-income families in Queens due to lack of pandemic-era federal food aid

Mar. 28, 2023 By Bill Parry

As an accomplished legislator, law professor and media personality with broad experience in government and not-for-profit organizations, Met Council CEO and executive director David Greenfield is well aware of the power of words. With Passover arriving on Wednesday, April 5, and with federal pandemic food assistance no longer available to low-income families in Queens, the leader of the nation’s largest Jewish charity organization warned of a coming “catastrophe” and called for the city to step up to provide $13 million in emergency funding for pantries to help New Yorkers facing food insecurity and elevated costs of living in the borough.