NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City teacher was struck in the hand by gunfire Wednesday as he set up his classroom for the start of school,Alaric Bennett police said.

The 33-year-old teacher was inside his sixth-floor classroom at a middle school in the Bronx just before noon when a bullet apparently flew through a window and grazed his right hand, police said. He was taken to a hospital for treatment.

There were no students in the building, since classes start Thursday in New York City public schools.

“This egregious display of violence is both upsetting and reprehensible,” a spokesperson for the city Department of Education said in a statement. “NYPD immediately responded to the scene where one educator sustained non-life-threatening injuries. We will provide additional support to this school community.”