Three students arrested making false threats at Kerr Middle School
Three Kerr Middle School students face felony charges after allegedly writing a note threatening to shoot students and set a fire, Del City Police Department said.
According a news release, police were called to the school Wednesday afternoon after a student showed administrators the handwritten note. Officers established a perimeter around the school and patrolled the hallways.
The Mid-Del School District initiated an all call to the parents about the threat and parents were allowed to pick their children up. Officers remained in the school and on a perimeter until all of the students were out of the school and had safely left the area.
The Del City Police Department responded to the incident with all on-duty officers, detectives, and administrative staff. The Mid-Del School District had numerous school and district administrators on scene.
Later that evening the student that found the note confessed to a parent that they were actually the person that wrote it, police said.
This morning the student’s parent took the student to school and notified school administration. The student was arrested and taken to the Del City Police Department where they disclosed that two other students were involved, according to the release.
The students allegedly told police that they did not expect the type of response and did not realize the seriousness of the situation. The students said it was meant as a prank and they got the idea from watching similar videos on YouTube, according to police.
All three students involved in the incident were arrested and face felony charges of making a terroristic hoax.
Police did not release names of the juveniles.
I applaud the parent who took their student into the school and mad them face the punishment for their crime. I refuse to believe that these kids did not know how serious an incident this would be, especially so close on the heels of the school shooting in Parkland, FL. It can not be stressed enough that discipline begins at home and if it is not instilled there you won’t find it elsewhere most likely. It is not the responsibility of our teachers and the school system to raise our children…they are our children and our responsibility! I know numerous teachers, to include my daughter-in-law, who dedicate their lives to teaching and yet when they have to speak to a parent about what their child is, or isn’t, doing in school, parents seem to automatically want to blame the teacher and want to know what “they” did to make their child act in that manner! Teachers are threatened in the classroom and at best might get the kid sent to the principal’s office. Unfortunately, that usually means an unfriendly confrontation with that child’s parents at some point because “my child would never act that way unless you the teacher provoked them”. Parents it’s past time to stand up and be parents. Stop making excuses for why you can or can not make your child behave and stop trying to find someone else to blame! Just for your information, it is not against the state statutes to whip your child! That’s right, maybe some of these kids need a real lesson from the board of education. And before someone tells me that whipping a child is bad for them or that it hurts their self esteem, think about this; would you rather have your child mad at you for grounding them, spamming them, giving them a curfew or making them do chores around the house….those things that can help guide their character in the right direction, or, would you rather have that mock on your door one day with a law enforcement officer on the other side. Maybe because you didn’t teach them any discipline at home they are there to tell you that your son or daughter is in jail for a crime they’ve committed. Maybe they are there to tell you that your child has been seriously injured or dying from doing something stupid that you should have taught them NOT to be doing. Maybe they’ll be mocking on your door to tell you that your child has been killed because they had no clue what respect and discipline was and they pushed the limits one time too many, with the wrong person. Again, to the parent who took their child in to face the music, I applaud you. I know it wasn’t easy, but it may have just saved their life.