Stray Bullet Nearly Hits Child at Elementary School in Miami

"When chance and luck are the best defense that our children have in Miami or in this county, something is terribly broken," the superintendent said.

A stray bullet nearly hit a child in a portable elementary school classroom Thursday morning in the second shooting outside a Miami-Dade school in as many days, officials said.

Miami-Dade Supt. Alberto Carvalho said two bullets hit the portable classroom at Frances S. Tucker Elementary School at 3500 Southwest 37th Avenue, also known as Douglas Avenue, in Miami's Coconut Grove neighborhood.

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One bullet ricocheted, while the other one pierced the building wall and narrowly missed a child, authorities said. No injuries were reported.

Miami Police said the shooting happened shortly after 9 a.m. and involved an exchange of gunfire between unknown parties.

In a press conference outside the elementary school, Carvalho described the scene inside with crying children huddled under their desks. He described hugging children with tears still in their eyes.

"It was shocking to me to walk into the school and to see kids cowered under desks with teachers stoically protecting them, that should not be a scene that anybody should witness here in Miami," Carvalho told NBC 6.

At least five shots were fired nearby, Carvalho said. The school was placed on lockdown. Miami-Dade School Board Police said they are working to locate bullet casings.

"I heard like seven gunshots, it was right by the school and there were some kids in the portables," student Khyarree Jackson said. "My teacher just locked down the doors and turned off the lights."

The shooting comes less than a day after shots were fired outside Carol City Senior High School in Miami Gardens. Although school officials initially said a student had been shot, they later clarified that no one was hurt.

Carvalho called the narrow misses "two miracles in two days."

He took to Twitter Thursday morning, calling the shootings "disturbingly unacceptable."

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"Bullets have no place in our community. Bullets certainly have no place in our classrooms," he said.

Carvalho said that the schools themselves are safe but the conditions outside the schools are dangerous.

"When chance and luck are the best defense that our children have in Miami or in this county, something is terribly broken," Carvalho said.

Carvalho indicated that over the past 12 months, 60 children have been shot in Miami-Dade, resulting in the deaths of 20 children.

"Our schools are safe, but we need the community's involvement to make sure they continue to be safe and the communities need to be safe and we want people to speak up," Dade Schools Police Chief Ian Moffett said.

Stay with NBC 6 for updates on this developing story.

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