BUFFALO, N.Y. — 2 On Your Side started looking into crime reports from McKinley High School in the days following the shooting and stabbing outside the building.
Staff members told 2 On Your Side problems have been happening at the high school for a while, so we wanted to know how many times police have been called out to McKinley in recent years.
And while we were able to dig up some information at that time, it took filing a Freedom of Information Request to find out more. That was about two weeks after the shooting and stabbing outside of McKinley High School.
Buffalo's online database revealed that from 2006 through February 22, 2022, 155 crimes were reported to Buffalo Police on the 1500 block of Elmwood Avenue. That database does not show specific addresses, so there was no way of knowing whether police responded to the high school or just nearby.
Last month, we filed a Freedom of Information Request with the City of Buffalo to get police reports involving 1500 Elmwood Avenue from the last three school years. We got them Tuesday. The email we received included 14 pages of police reports with some personal information redacted, but enough to paint a picture of what's happening.
Going back to the fall of 2019 to the middle of last month, there are 13 police reports. Two are for the same incident where a teacher didn't want to press charges.
Buffalo Police responded to the high school during the 2019-2020 school year four times before the pandemic sent students home, including on December 10, 2019 when a student punched a staff member in the face. That student was suspended.
For the following school year, when students were doing remote learning, the only crime reported was a laptop stolen out of a locker. That police report wasn't filed until last month.
Since the return of in-person learning last fall, besides more stolen laptops, police were called out to McKinley High School three times.
In September, a teacher told police a student grabbed her arm, and bruised it, and threatened to hit her with his shoe.
Then in January, a staff member tried breaking up a fight between a group of girls when one of them hit and kicked her. The staff member hurt her back, neck, and hand and the student was suspended.
One of the girls also bit another adult after the fight was broken up. He went to Kenmore Mercy for medical treatment.
The week before the shooting, police arrested two people and charged them with assault and criminal mischief. We don't know their ages because they are crossed out on the police report. The two people are accused of fighting with the victim in the hallway and breaking her necklace. Police say this fight happened following a Snapchat video and back and forth messaging.
The Freedom of Information Request results did not include the police reports for the shooting and stabbing in the McKinley High School parking lot last month.
Read the full Freedom of Information Request here: