A man who was behaving bizarrely outside a Darby, Penn., elementary school but was buzzed in anyway reportedly had a loaded gun and drugs on his person.
Police say the security officer at Park Lane Elementary School saw a man, later identified as 21-year-old Nazher Sabree, walking around shirtless in 37-degree weather and rummaging through bags at approximately 9 a.m. Friday.
The security officer also saw Sabree conversing with a Verizon technician and believed “the young man was one of the Verizon workers,” reports The Daily Times.
Several hours later, a school employee who recognized Sabree as a former student buzzed him into the building despite his concerning behavior.
Principal Dr. Dawnee Watson-Bouie was notified that Sabree “was not behaving in a normal fashion” and confronted him.
Sabree asked if anyone had brought in a bag he was looking for. Watson-Bouie said she would investigate and escorted him to the lobby area beyond secure doors where he could not regain access to the rest of the building.
“The Security Officer and Dr. Watson-Bouie walked the building to make sure everything was secure. When they reached the back doors, they observed the young man in the baseball field behind the school and called 9-1-1,” read a statement from the school district.
Sabree was eventually arrested following a struggle with four police officers. He allegedly threatened the responding officers with a stolen semi-automatic handgun and had drugs on him.
“Upon notification of a weapon, Dr. Watson-Bouie put the building into a lockdown,” continued the statement.
Darby Borough Police Chief Robert Smythe says the incident was a “major security breach” and is calling for the firing of Watson-Bouie for how the situation was handled, according to ABC 6.
“Why would you let the guy in when he was acting strangely to begin with? I mean, who is standing around outside shirtless at 9 a.m. picking up bags?” said Smythe.
Smythe is also questioning why Watson-Bouie did not use the school’s panic button to alert police of an armed intruder and why she waited three hours before contacting police.
The school district’s statement said Watson-Bouie didn’t use the panic button because there was no evidence Sabree was armed.
Panic buttons were installed in every primary and secondary school in the district in June 2013 following the Sandy Hook shooting.
District administrators say they will continue to investigate the incident and plan for “possible additional safeguards and procedures for admittance into school buildings.”
