De Blasio: Stuyvesant High School Students Returned To School Day After Lower Manhattan Attack To Show 'Terror Would Not Stop Us'

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — New York City officials are praising the staff and students at Stuyvesant High School, which is located next to the bike path of Tuesday's deadly terror attack in Lower Manhattan.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chancellor Carmen Farina spoke Thursday outside the school. They said they were deeply moved by the accounts of those who hunkered down in the school Tuesday as the carnage unfolded outside.

Many are still shaken by the tragedy that happened steps from their classrooms, but many wanted to return the next day to show terrorism hadn't won.

"They thought it was important to be at school the next day to mourn those who have been lost and to show that terror would not stop us," the mayor. "They're respect for the lives that were taken, that they saw it as their duty to be back at this school and send a message, it was very, very moving."

"They could immediately tell was not a drill," the mayor said. "They just went and got to safety."

One student, a 16-year-old boy, was injured on the bus that the suspect's truck crashed into. He was back in school the next day because Farina said he was "working on a 100 percent perfect attendance."

"We all assumed (he) would not come back the next day. He went to the hospital, he was released, he wanted to go home," the chancelor said. "As a result, when it came time to pick him up, the bus actually didn't pick him up thinking he wouldn't be there."

So the boy's mother hired a car that brought him to school, with his perfect attendance record and courage intact, WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported.

Farina said another student on the bus underwent surgery Wednesday and "appears to be on the mend." The bus matron is also recovering after surgery and the driver is recovering at home, 1010 WINS' Al Jones reported.

Eight people were killed and 12 others were injured when authorities said suspect Sayfullo Saipov drove a rented pickup truck down a bike path, plowing into bicyclists and pedestrians for an entire mile before crashing into the school bus.

Saipov was shot by an NYPD officer after he jumped out of the truck with two air guns. He appeared before a federal judge Wednesday night to face charges that include providing material support to a terrorist group.

When asked whether Saipov should get the death penalty, the mayor declared this is an individual who "should rot for the rest of his life in jail," WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported.

(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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