Saddest & scariest in a long time ( Archived) (21)

Cops: 3rd-graders plotted teacher attack

RUSS BYNUM, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 51 minutes ago

WAYCROSS, Ga. - A group of children ages 8 to 10 were apparently mad at their teacher because she had scolded
one of them for standing on a chair, authorities say.

That led the third-graders, as many as nine boys and girls,
to plot an attack on the teacher at Center Elementary School
in south Georgia.

Police Chief Tony Tanner said the students apparently planned to knock the teacher unconscious with a glass paperweight,
bind her with handcuffs and duct tape and then stab her
with a broken steak knife.

The scheme involved a division of roles, Tanner said.
One child's job was to cover windows so no one could see from
outside, and another was supposed to clean up after the attack.

"We're not sure at this point in the investigation how many of the students actually knew the intent was to hurt the teacher,"
Tanner said.

School officials had alerted police Friday after a pupil tipped off
a teacher that a girl had taken a weapon to school.

Tanner said the teacher told detectives the children
weren't known previously as troublemakers.

"You can't dismiss it," Tanner said. "But because they are kids, they may have thought this was like a cartoon —
we do whatever and then she stands up and she's OK.
That's a hard call."

The purported target teaches third-grade students with learning disabilities, including attention deficit disorder, delayed development and hyperactivity, friends and parents said.

Two of the students were arrested on juvenile charges Tuesday and a third arrest was expected. District Attorney Rick Currie said other students told investigators they didn't take the plot seriously or insisted they had decided not to participate.

"Some of the kids said, `We thought they were just kidding,'" Currie said. "Another child was supposed to bring a toy pistol, and he told a detective he didn't bring it because he thought
he would get in trouble."

Currie said the children are too young to be charged as adults, and probably too young to be sentenced to a youth detention center.

"We did not hear anybody say they intended to kill her, but could they have accidentally killed her? Absolutely," Tanner said. "We feel like if they weren't interrupted, there would have been an attempt. Would they have been successful? We don't know."

Currie said he decided to seek juvenile charges against two girls, ages 9 and 10, who brought the knife and paperweight and an 8-year-old boy who brought tape. He said they face charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, and both girls are being charged with taking weapons to school.

Nine children have been given discipline up to and including long-term suspension, said Theresa Martin, spokeswoman for the Ware County school system. She would not be more specific but said none of the children had been back to school since the case came to light.

School system policy says any student who brings "anything reasonably considered to be a weapon" is to be expelled for at least the remainder of the school year.

Its a scary world.....

What will tommorow bring ....

Scary and sad

My god I can't believe the amount of planning that went into this for such young kids....

My daughters in 4th grade she amazes me with her writting abilities and the way her mind works....I know I was never that smart.....

Oh I know kids are smart at that age...I just didn't think it would be for planning cirmes.... That's the part that has me dumbfounded....It doesn't sound like a kids plan it sounds like an adult plan with the among of detail that went into to it...right down to covering the windows....

I know it can be amazing. Ive listened in when my kids are playing in thier room with each other and/or friends and sometimes they get ito staggering details creating forts. talking about defenses...thier amazing little minds.....