A Long Island school district received a shipment of bullets instead of the art supplies it had ordered for the academic year. The discovery was made on Tuesday by a teacher at Eastport-South Manor Jr.-Sr. High School in Manorville, New York, who was unpacking supplies purchased from Blick Art Materials.
According to district superintendent Joseph Steimel, the teacher found an unfamiliar box among the art supply deliveries. Upon opening it, they discovered a smaller box containing ammunition, labeled as intended for a sports store. The district has stated that at no point were students or staff in danger, attributing the incident to a severe packaging and shipping error by an external vendor or distributor.
Steimel informed parents in a statement that the district would contact the supplier to investigate the logistical error and prevent future occurrences. Suffolk County police were notified and have taken possession of the bullets, law enforcement officials confirmed.
A spokesperson for Blick Art Materials expressed confusion regarding the mix-up, stating that the ammunition was shipped from a company in Louisiana to a sporting goods store in New York and was mistakenly commingled with their shipment to the school. Blick Art Materials clarified that they do not sell, store, or package ammunition and that neither the sporting goods store nor the ammunition supplier are their customers.
The incident has raised concerns among parents, with a high turnout expected at a school board meeting scheduled for Wednesday evening.
This is not the first firearm-related incident at the school or involving its community. In 2023, an off-duty Suffolk County police officer inadvertently left his firearm in a school bathroom. Separately, a Bay Shore high school student recently received a handgun safe instead of the Spider-Man backpack he ordered from Amazon.