MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A Miami-Dade County school was placed on lockdown Friday morning after a school transportation vehicle was struck by gunfire in Brownsville, superintendent Alberto Carvalho said.
Carvalho said Brownsville Middle School was placed on lockdown because of a possible shooter in the neighborhood. The lockdown was lifted shortly before 11 a.m.
Miami-Dade police said the school van and a private bus were traveling north on Northwest 24th Avenue near Northwest 46th Street when they were struck. Police said a BB gun was used to shoot the vans.
"It could have been my child, anybody's child, these are kids. Put the guns down," one parent, Tarnika Washington, said.
Two windows of the school van were shattered. A window of a Miami Jewish Health Systems bus was also shattered, and two vehicles were also struck.
Carvalho said 14 students on the bus were on their way to Brownsville Middle School, but they were not injured.
"This was described to me today as a new normal that people are accepting more and more," Carvalho said. "It cannot become the new normal. This is highly abnormal."
The driver, Jose Ruiz, said he is grateful that no one was injured.
"I thank God that he was with us and nothing happened, only material damage," he said.
No arrests have been made.
Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.