Bullets flew and glass shattered at a public charter school on Chicago's Northwest Side Tuesday morning, leaving faculty, parents, and students in shock, with the frightening ordeal occurring as students were present inside the building taking tests.
At around 9:20 a.m., gunfire disrupted the morning quiet at Intrinsic School's Belmont campus in the Irving Park neighborhood, with a stray bullet hitting a window, the Chicago Tribune reported. Despite the scare, no injuries were reported at the scene, and the school's CEO Melissa Zaikos reassured the public in a statement obtained by the Chicago Tribune, "At the time of the shooting, students were in the building taking the PSAT," also confirming the school did not believe it was being targeted and normal dismissal continued after the PSAT was concluded.
Further details described by CBS News noted that the bullet only broke the outer pane and the second layer of protection managed to halt the stray bullet from penetrating any further, a narrow escape that prevented any physical harm to the individuals inside, while the remnants of broken glass littered the ground outside the window in question.
Investigations by Area 5 detectives and Chicago Public Schools’ safety and security team are underway, with as yet no suspects in custody according to police officials, this case remains an active investigation, the Chicago Tribune and CBS News reported.
The Intrinsic Schools network, which encompasses a second campus located in Chicago's Loop area, faced this incident at its older and flagship campus situated on the 4500 block of West Belmont Avenue.
