Police Chief After Parent's Arrest: No Evidence That Students, Staff In Danger

Editor's Note: The following was written by Superintendent Rich Burns, followed by a statement from East Hampton Village Police Chief Jerry Larsen regarding parent's concern following the arrest of Harry Dalian, a parent, on Friday. Police allege that Dalian identified himself as a New York City Police Officer after a visit to the John M. Marshall Elementary School on Thursday. When he was arrested Friday, in Wainscott, he had a loaded 9mm handgun on him, for which he had a permit.

To All Parents and Staff: Please regard this correspondence as official information from the District regarding the behavior of a parent in the school parking lot on Wednesday, May 1.  Since the event, I have been in frequent contact with East Hampton Village Police Chief Larsen. This morning at my office I received Chief Larsen’s official police statement (please read below). I have been in contact with the John Marshall principal and am now satisfied that all pertinent facts are known by the district.  I can assure you that our students and staff were never in danger. As always, the safety of our children and staff is the top priority in our school system. Please bring any concerns or questions you may have to my attention.

-- Rich Burns

This statement is being written in an attempt to calm the parents, teachers and others in our community who are upset and concerned about the encounter that occurred in Elementary School parking lot on May 1, 2013.

The Police Department acted quickly in dealing with this situation as I was personally concerned as to the motive and stability of the defendant. Now that the investigation has concluded, I feel reasonably certain to say; at no time on May 1 during Mr. Dalian’s visit to the school were any children or faculty in danger. In fact, there is no evidence that the defendant had any weapons on his possession at the time he was on school property.

The Police and the School worked together and Mr. Dalian has been banned from all school properties and all of his weapons have been confiscated by the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department. Due to this incident I am requesting that the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department permanently revoke Mr. Dalian gun permit.

I realize that this incident and the "what if’s", will bring into question future security concerns and needs. Our community is not any different in this respect than any other place in the country. The Police Department and the School Administration have always worked together on the security needs of the school. During the last several months we have worked even harder to tighten security of all our school facilities and will continue to do so.

-- Chief Larsen