JAMAICA — A pair of truant students set off a lockdown at the former Jamaica HS Thursday when they sneaked back into the building wearing ski masks to avoid surveillance cameras, police and education officials said.
The students left the school at 167-01 Gothic Drive without authorization and decided return through a side door hiding their faces with ski masks, a police source said.
"Not a major incident," NYPD Chief of Department James O'Neill said at a later press conference.
An administrator saw them, became alarmed and ordered a lockdown, sparking a large police presence, including two Emergency Service Units, which did a room-to-room search for about two hours.
At teacher recognized the two from surveillance and checked their schedule, tracking them to the cafeteria.
There, the students were taken into custody but not arrested because they didn't break any laws. No weapons were found, police sources said.
They were brought to the precinct stationhouse for questioning, but will likely be disciplined by the school, a source said.
Some students took the ordeal more seriously than others.
Jamaica Gateway High School senior Shelly Singh, 17, said she was a little frightened as she waited with other students in their classroom for nearly two hours as police searched the school.
"We were a little bit scared because we saw heard all the helicopters and police and everything," she said outside the school. "The lights were shut off, we stayed inside the classroom, they put paper on the door's window so we couldn't be seen."
Other students weren't fazed.
"It was nothing," they shouted as they left the school about 3 p.m. after the lockdown was lifted.
Jamaica High School was disbanded over the summer, but the building still houses Queens Collegiate, Hillside Arts and Letters Academy and High School for Community Leadership.
Ben Fractenberg contributed reporting to this story.
