Gunman Fleeing Police Causes School's Evacuation

Students and teachers were hurried out of an elementary school in Brooklyn yesterday after a man ran into the building carrying a loaded gun.

The unidentified assailant entered the school, P.S. 108 in Cypress Hills, at just before 2 p.m., fleeing plainclothes police officers who chased him after a botched home invasion, Department of Education officials said.

After he ran up the school's stairs, police evacuated the first floor, directing teachers to move their students to nearby Highland Park, situated down the street. Police arrested the gunman in a third-floor bathroom, took his weapon from him before anyone was hurt, and evacuated the remaining students once the area was safe.

Louis Perez, 38, a loan officer, said his brother, Ritchie Vasquez, encountered the masked gunman inside their family's home attempting to burgle the place. After the suspect fled outside, Mr. Vasquez followed and shouted for help, prompting the suspect to head for the school in a desperate attempt to avoid capture.

As the evacuated students waited for parents to pick them up in Highland Park, many were distressed and crying after the episode.

The episode was resolved by 3 p.m., and teachers and police officers led the remaining students back to the school shortly afterward for regular dismissal.

Council Member Charles Barron, whose district includes the school, said the police did an "excellent job" in protecting the students. "Even me, an arch-critic of the police, has to give credit where credit is due," Mr. Barron said. He called the gunman a "coward" for hiding behind schoolchildren and said that he should be "ashamed" of his behavior.

The suspect, 32, is in custody, but police have yet to release his name.

P.S. 108, situated on Linwood Street off Arlington Avenue, houses some 973 students in kindergarten through fifth grade.