Police Chief Pap Henderson offered assurances Wednesday thatpossible shots fired in the Carver Heights and Alexander JuniorHigh School area Tuesday were no direct threat to area citizens orstudents.

“The initial call was about a disturbance in Carver Heights,”said Henderson, who responded to the call himself. “I want peopleto understand that it was not at Carver Heights at all, nor atAlexander Junior High School. I know this for a fact because I wasthere.”

Henderson said parents had reported receiving text messages fromtheir children at Alexander after they were taken inside and putunder lockdown. The shots came from a car driving through on TurnerStreet and firing shots in the air, he said.

“I believe they were probably riding through being funny,” saidHenderson, who did not find the prank at all amusing. “We gotenough information on the car from witnesses that I know what carand what body style I’m looking for.”

It’s understandable why parents would worry about their children’ssafety, Henderson said. But he assured Brookhaven residents thattheir children were in no immediate danger from the incidentTuesday, which other reports had said might even have just been acar backfire.

“I don’t think it was a backfire, because witnesses say they hearda few shots,” he said. “But who knows, maybe it could have been. Ijust want people to know they were in no danger.”