Handgun seized from
Lincoln student

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

Confidential informants and alert police helped avert potential gun violence sparked last week by an ongoing rivalry among students at Abraham Lincoln High School.
Philadelphia police on April 17 arrested a 17-year-old male and a 15-year-old female for possessing a loaded .45-caliber handgun on the 3300 block of Guilford St., just a block from the Lincoln campus. The arrests occurred at about 2:20 p.m. as the school was dismissing students for the day, according to Capt. Frank Bachmayer, commander of the 15th Police District.
The school has an enrollment of about 2,400 students.
Police and school officials had been tipped off to possible trouble at the school that afternoon following a verbal dispute between two groups of students that morning.
"There was a verbal confrontation at school which was broken up," said school district spokesman Fernando Gallard. "Out of that, rumors came that there was going to be a follow-up with a fight or a gun after school."
School district police assigned to Lincoln got word of the planned showdown, then advised Philadelphia police. At dismissal time, the 15th district augmented its usual allotment of patrols in the area of the school, while the police department’s criminal intelligence unit sent plainclothes officers.
According to Bachmayer, undercover officers saw one of the teens pass the weapon to the other teen, and arrested both. The girl is a freshman at Lincoln, but the boy is a dropout who most recently attended classes at Pennypack School, an educational program administered by the Philadelphia Prison System for delinquent juveniles.
Gallard was uncertain if the boy had been in custody at a city juvenile detention facility while studying at Pennypack School.
Police and school officials did not disclose the identity of either teen because of their ages.
Although there is no evidence that the gun was brought onto school property, the female student is subject to expulsion in accordance with district policy involving criminal activity among students outside of school.
According to Gallard, a school police supervisor reported that there has been an ongoing dispute at Lincoln among youths from different neighborhoods.
On the morning of the gun arrests, "inflammatory" statements were exchanged.
One group is comprised of individuals from the Liddonfield Homes public housing complex, and the other group of individuals is from Southwest Philadelphia, a source familiar with the case said.
Gallard was unaware of any further action taken by Lincoln to address the student body of either the gun incident or the ongoing problem of conflict among groups of students.
However, the district spokesmen commended the individuals who reported the potential violence and the officers who acted upon the information.
"You’ve got to take these tips seriously. You’ve got to follow through on them," Gallard said.
"We’re very grateful to the police officers from the school and the Philadelphia Police Department who acted quickly and were able to catch two teens with a .45-caliber gun fully loaded." ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com