Pair of teens who broke into school turn themselves in, police say

Two juveniles turned themselves into police Tuesday in connection with the weekend break in at a Westbury elementary school, Nassau police said.

The 15-year-old suspects, one from New Cassel and the other from Westbury, were charged with third-degree criminal trespass, police said in a news release Tuesday night. They are scheduled to be in Family Court on Sept. 18.

Security has been stepped up at Park Avenue Elementary School after two teens, one armed with a handgun, broke into the school Sunday night but fled empty-handed after an alarm went off, police and school officials said Tuesday.

Surveillance video showed the pair entering the school through an unlocked roof hatch about 10:25 p.m., Nassau County police said.

“One of the subjects was observed taking a black handgun from his waistband as they walked through the halls. The subjects fled the scene as they triggered the alarm,” police said in a news release Tuesday morning.

Nothing was taken from the school, police said.

Officers went to the school and, with the help of a security employee, searched the building.

Eudes Budhai, superintendent of the Westbury district, said the district’s comprehensive alarm system immediately notified the Nassau County Police Department, which arrived at the school minutes after the alarm was triggered.

"Since this weekend, the district has taken measures to enhance security at Park Avenue Elementary School including the installation of key locks on the roof hatches. The safety and security of our school community is the district’s foremost priority, and district administration will continue to cooperate with the Nassau County Police Department as it conducts its investigation,"  Budhai said in a statement.