(WSVN) - What started as a holiday celebration inside a South Florida school turned chaotic when gunfire erupted outside. The Nightteam’s Karen Hensel has her special assignment special report: Party Panic.
You can hear the urgency in her voice.
911 caller: “Hi, I don’t know. I’m in Pompano Beach. I’m inside a party in a room, and they’re shooting inside the building. I’m stuck in the bathroom.”
It was Dec. 25, Christmas night, around 11 p.m.
While huddled inside a bathroom, callers told 911 they believed there was a shooter in the building.
911 caller: “Hi, I don’t know the address of where I’m at, but I’m at a party, and they’re shooting inside the building.”
911 dispatcher: “Did you see anyone shooting or no?”
911 caller: “No, I didn’t see no one shooting. When they started shooting, I ran and hide myself in the bathroom with me and my friends.”
One caller said she heard 12 shots.
The other said there were more than 15.
911 dispatcher: “You don’t know the name of the club?”
911 caller: “Powerline, I think.”
But, it wasn’t a club.
Instead, the panicked 911 calls were coming from inside a school for at-risk youth in Pompano Beach.
911 caller: “Can you make officers come inside, please? Please, please, please.”
Dispatcher: “I’m letting them know.”
911 caller: “The police are inside.”
Deputies: “Hey, Sheriff’s Office! Open the door!”
911 callers: “We called! We called! We called! We called! We called! We called! We called! We called! We called!”
Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the Youth Under Construction Youth Center.
Delvin King, school principal: “They walked around the building because they thought it was an active shooter within the building, which it wasn’t.”
Delvin King is the principal and confirms his school did hold the Christmas party, but he would not tell us how many people were there or whether they even attend the school.
7News Producer: “Were they students?”
Delvin King: “I don’t have that information.”
7News Producer: “How do you not have it? It’s your school.”
Delvin King: “It was hosted by the school, but as far as who was there, I don’t have that information.”
The principal believes the shots were fired outside on the north side of the building.
Delvin King: “It must have been in the air because nobody was shot.”
The day after the shooting incident, the principal posted what he called a “warning” to parents on Facebook: “Your children are also out here with loaded guns shooting in parking lots at parties. This madness has to stop!”
Delvin King: “Eventually, something bad is going to happen. Thank God nothing bad happened that night.”
This isn’t the first time the youth center has hosted a party during the pandemic.
The principal posted a video on Facebook the day after Thanksgiving.
It shows people dancing — no social distancing — and only some wearing masks.
He called it a “successful party,” and then, last summer, wearing a school shirt, he shared this video…
Delvin King singing in video posted on Facebook: “I’m takin’ this b**** back to when I was in elementary school. We gettin’ outta here! F*** ya!”
King wrote, “When you know the COVID-19 cases are rising and still have a party with no mask and all, then BSO come knocking at the door.”
It’s unclear from the post where that party took place.
BSO tells 7News they continue to investigate the Christmas night shooting and are asking anyone with information to call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS or BSO detectives at 954-786-4201.
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