Dad defends son who brought gun to school

Dad defends son who brought gun to school

DCPI

An NYPD officer discovered a student brought a gun to Wave Preparatory Elementary School in Far Rockaway at about 8 a.m.

A Queens second-grader whose bookbag held a handgun and ammunition clip likely wanted the weapon for protection from schoolyard bullies, the boy’s father said Friday.

Walter Orozo detailed his 7-year-old son’s fears shortly after the boy’s mother was arrested on weapons charges in the Thursday incident that led to a lockdown at the Wave Preparatory Elementary School in Far Rockaway.

“He was afraid for his life,” Orozo said of his son. “He was afraid to go to school. The kids were picking and picking on him, but the school wouldn’t do anything to protect him.”

Orozo, 55, said he didn’t know how the child acquired the .22 caliber handgun or the ammunition, but he believes the little boy went gun shopping in self-defense.

“My wife, she complained to the school but the school wouldn’t protect him,” Orozo griped. “The school did nothing.”

The father suggested the weapon could have come from his wife’s two older sons, who live in the same Far Rockaway apartment building with them.

Investigators were looking to speak with the second-grader’s 21-year-old brother, who has a criminal record and may own the gun, police sources said.

The 7-year-old’s mother, Deborah Farley, 53, was busted for criminal possession of the handgun hours after she notified the principal of the Far Rockaway school about the weapon inside the building, police said early Friday.

Investigators searched her home and found additional ammunition, with Farley finally confessing that the handgun was hers, police sources said.

Farley claimed that she stashed the gun in the child’s bag on Wednesday and then forgot about it, the sources said. The discovery of the weapon caused a school-wide lockdown, with terrified students cowering in their classrooms.

The mom was also charged with unlawful possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child.

A safety agent discovered the handgu n, a flare pistol and the ammo after the boy’s mother spoke to the principal about two hours after dropping off her child, police sources said.

Although the bag held some bullets, it was unclear if the weapon was loaded.

The post-Newtown drama unfolded shortly after the mother dropped off her second-grader â€" only to return home to be told by a family member that the boy had taken the items to school.

The mom rushed back to the campus, and pulled her son out of class, saying he had a dental appointment, police sources said.

Her son told her he’d given the gun to a classmate â€" though this turned out to be untrue, the sources said. The mother then confessed to the principal, who ordered a lockdown that sent students scurrying for safety in fear that a gunman was stalking the halls.

“On the loudspeaker, the principal told us there was someone near the school with a gun,” said Santos Hercules, 11. “We had to stay quiet till it passed . . . I felt scared, but I wasn’t too scared because I knew I had to be strong.”

Shakyla Howard, 8, a third-grader, said her classroom didn’t have a lock.

“They made us turn off the lights and hide behind the teacher’s desk next to the closets,” she recalled. “Our teacher almost started crying because she didn’t want us to get hurt.”

During the alert, school safety agents questioned the boy and his friend, who had the flare gun, but not the real gun, the sources added.

But the safety agents then tracked down the bookbag, and found the weapon and bullets.

Parents were frustrated at a lack of answers from school officials.

Jessica Cox, 25, said she’s thinking about taking her son, Devonte Small-Gibbs, 8, out of the school.

“I asked one of the cops what happened, and he just said: ‘Nothing to be worried about,’ ” she said, fuming.

“Someone brought a gun â€" that’s something to worry about! I’m ready to change schools. This makes me nervous.”

With Rachel Monahan

rparascandola@nydailynews.com