ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A 23-year-old Allentown man was arrested Monday morning after allegedly firing a handgun and threatening a school security officer, police said.

Victor Nieves was apprehended after Allentown Police responded to reports of shots fired in the 100 block of North 2nd Street around 10 am.

A witness reported seeing a male fire rounds into the air from a handgun near the 200 block of Spruce Street.

Story continues · 1 min left
Read the rest of this story — freeWelcome back.That email didn’t go through.
Reader emails keep local news free, with no paywall. You’ll get our newsletter with the Valley’s top stories Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, and that’s all we use it for. Do it once and every story stays open.You left the newsletter, so stories past here need your email again. Rejoin and every story opens.We couldn’t deliver to the address you gave. Use another one and every story opens.

Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy policy

The incident occurred near Harrison-Morton Middle School. A parent reported on Facebook at 10:34 am that the school was placed on lockdown, and some students heard gunshots while walking to school.

While police were investigating with a witness and an Allentown School District Security Officer, the suspect reappeared and allegedly began fighting with the security officer.

During the altercation, Nieves allegedly pointed a handgun at the security officer before fleeing and disposing of it when he spotted uniformed officers.

Police recovered the discarded weapon and arrested Nieves a short time later.

He faces charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, terroristic threats, carrying a concealed firearm without a license, and evading arrest.

Nieves is being held at Lehigh County Jail under $200,000 bail with a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 12.