Police search for man who prompted lockout in Massapequa, Farmingdale schools
Suffolk County Police responded to a domestic dispute on Main Street in East Islip on Friday morning. Credit: Fully Involved Media Group
Suffolk police are seeking the public's help to locate a man from Bohemia who prompted hourslong school lockouts in Farmingdale and Massapequa after he fired three shots into the door of a home in East Islip during a dispute Friday morning.
Bernard King, 34, also "called the victim inside the home and made verbal threats" about 6:40 a.m., police said in a statement. He fled from the home on East Main Street in a 2020 Kia Sorento, police said.
King is believed to have traveled to Nassau County, officials said. Nassau police are assisting in the investigation.
The initial police response and search for King caused a lockout at three Farmingdale schools and four Massapequa schools while Nassau police searched the area, district officials said.
The three schools in the Farmingdale district impacted were Woodward Parkway Elementary, Albany Avenue Elementary and Farmingdale High School. They were placed on a lockout, locked to anyone trying to enter or leave the buildings Friday, as a precautionary measure in response to police activity in the area, district officials said.
The Massapequa schools that were on lockout were Lockhart, East Lake and McKenna elementary schools and Massapequa High School's Ames campus, district officials said.
Police urge anyone with information to call 911 or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-220-TIPS.
Joie Tyrrell is a Long Island native and covers education for Newsday, where she has worked since 1998.
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