PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Two Palm Beach County school police officers are nominated for a LEO Award, after disarming a suspect who they say entered Lake Worth Community High School illegally with a loaded gun at the start of the school year.
Sgt. Frank Bialaszewski and Officer Johan Lorenzo confronted the suspect on campus before anyone was hurt. Police say the person was carrying a loaded gun with 15 rounds — one in the chamber — and found another dozen loose rounds on him.
He was not a student.
"We had a security breach. Individual made entry to the campus illegally, went into a lockdown," Bialaszewski said.
Lorenzo said a student tipped them off.
"One of our students let us know, 'Hey, this is, we think, somebody's armed. Somebody had a gun on campus,'" Lorenzo said.
They say the man had come out of a bathroom when the officers approached him.
"Subject wasn't cooperative at that time. We noticed that he reached into his waistband," Bialaszewski said.
Lorenzo said that moment changed everything.
"At that moment, I knew two things: He's probably the one that's armed, and this situation just got real. So, I took control of his hand. I initiated a takedown," Lorenzo said. "We were able to place him under control with minimal issues, and eventually disarming him."
"This is a rare occurrence. The fact that we were able to handle business, and everybody went home safe without nobody really realizing what happened was great... From that moment on, we've improved our security system," Lorenzo said.
Both officers said the relationships they build with students every day are at the heart of what they do.
"Every interaction with every kid makes a difference in the world," Bialaszewski said.
"You start mentoring this kid, you give him a little bit of a hey, you can talk to us," Lorenzo said. "It goes back to building that rapport with the kids on campus."
When asked how they feel about being called heroes, both officers deflected the praise.
"It doesn't correlate. We sign up to do this job, we love doing our job every day," Bialaszewski said. "Every day I wake up is a great day. I'm very lucky here at school police, because this is the best job I've had in law enforcement."
"It sounds cliche, I was just doing my job," Lorenzo said.
The LEO Awards ceremony is scheduled for tomorrow. If they win, both officers say the recognition belongs to the team.
"I would feel very humbled," Lorenzo said.
"It honestly was a team effort. It wasn't a hard thing, if your heart's in it," Bialaszewski said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
