WAYCROSS, Ga. (AP) — A group of children ages 8 to 10 apparently were 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 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 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.
State and Nation
Ga. police say 3rd-graders plotted to attack teacher, brought broken steak knife, handcuffs
- State and Nation
-
-
Sinkhole shuts down westbound I-20 in Alabama
Westbound traffic is being routed off Interstate 20 in eastern Alabama because of a sinkhole that's formed in the highway in Calhoun County.
-
Embalmer takes speech case to Mass. high court
Troy Schoeller admits he could have chosen his words more carefully when he talked to a reporter about bodies he worked on as an embalmer at a funeral home.
-
Los Angeles school reopens amid sex abuse scandal
The teachers union president assailed the reassignment of teachers as a stunt, about 100 parents and students blasted the move, and some of the new teachers needed a bit of help from their charges.
-
APNewsBreak: Powell had 'incestuous' images
Authorities say the images depicted "incestuous" sex and were disconcerting enough that they prompted a psychologist to recommend that Powell undergo an intensive psychosexual evaluation.
-
NYC sewage plant to offer Valentine's Day tours
It may not smell like a rose but a New York City sewage plant is offering tours for lovers on Valentine's Day.
-
Mississippi bill renames Gulf of Mexico as Gulf of America
State Rep. Steve Holland says the measure aims to mock anti-immigrant legislation that he finds mean-spirited and insignificant.
-
AG: Mortgage deal offers relief to Alabama borrowers
The deal also puts a stop to many of the bad behaviors that contributed to the mortgage mess in Alabama and across the U.S.
- States, Feds to announce mortgage settlement
- Unemployment aid applications near a 4-year low
- Remlap woman dies after struck by car after crash
- More State and Nation Headlines
-
Sinkhole shuts down westbound I-20 in Alabama
Denver's Largest-Ever Drug Bust Nets Dozens
Marines: No Punishment for Nazi-like Flag
Vets Look to Translate Military Skills Into Jobs
Expert: Removing LA School's Staff 'Appropriate'
Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames
LA School Reopens Amid Sex Abuse Scandal
$25B Settlement Reached Over Foreclosure Abuses
Pentagon: Allow Women Closer to Front Lines
Obama Gives Education Waivers to 10 States
Giffords Aide to Run for Her Seat
LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens
Winter Slamming North Asia, Parts of Europe
Syrian Forces Renew Bombardment of Homs
States, Banks Reach Foreclosure-abuse Settlement
Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life
Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal
Raw Video: U.S. Pullout Celebration
Raw Video: Annual Empire State Building Run-Up
Man Killed in Courthouse Shootout
Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service
