Columbia High School lockdown

I presume everyone saw this (pretty troubling). Does anyone know if the suspects actually had weapons?:

http://patch.com/new-jersey/maplewood/columbia-high-school-lockdown-2-students-may-have-been-involved-social-media-threat

Although the conversation was removed due to potential legal issues, the CHS student's parent posted on MOL, shortly after that incident was reported, in order to assure others that there were no weapons. 

Way to go, Patch... you've managed to completely ignore the word "current" in "current events" yet again.

ETA: Though part of me thinks their ineptitude and shoddy reporting led them to piggyback off of what they heard someplace else, and they just picked the wrong story to poach.

ctrzaska said:

Way to go, Patch... you've managed to completely ignore the word "current" in "current events" yet again.

ETA: Though part of me thinks their ineptitude and shoddy reporting led them to piggyback off of what they heard someplace else, and they just picked the wrong story to poach.

The date on the Patch article is 11/20. Your comment should be directed at RobJohn99, methinks.

Whoops.  Saw the first date (today) and not the second, earlier one.  My bad.  They're still a bunch of sensationalist hacks, though.

RobJohn needs to use a search function.

New information from Maplewood Police about the charges filed against the 9th grader.

http://villagegreennj.com/schools-kids/maplewood-police-chs-9th-grader-charged-assault-terroristic-threats/

The 9th grade student accused of bringing a toy handgun to Columbia High School last week has been charged with a number of counts, including aggravated assault and terroristic threats.

The 15-year-old was charged with Possession of an Imitation Firearm, False Public Alarm, Terroristic Threats, Aggravated Assault and Possession of a Weapon in an Educational Institution, according to a media release from Capt. Dawn Williams Monday.

The incident last Thursday caused a Code Yellow shelter in place at the school.

Thank God, we have been saved from this 15 year old toy gun terrorist.

Try him as an adult and lock him up for life !!!! Let him never again breathe the free air of America !!!

BG9 said:

Thank God, we have been saved from this 15 year old toy gun terrorist.

Try him as an adult and lock him up for life !!!! Let him never again breathe the free air of America !!!

Perhaps Donald Trump can just throw him over the wall into Mexico. We've turned into a nation of fools.

BG9 said:

Thank God, we have been saved from this 15 year old toy gun terrorist.

Try him as an adult and lock him up for life !!!! Let him never again breathe the free air of America !!!

Or not.  Depending on which side of reality you're on, of course.

Sounds like it was an air soft gun -- a bb gun that looks like a real gun with an orange nozzle -- and he removed the orange nozzle-- which makes it look more real ....  He was trying to make it look real to be tougher...

Parents of teen boys do not assume that your kids would never own an airsoft gun or another type of bb gun or knife...   and would never be stupid enough to bring to school---  have the conversations--

maplegal said:

Sounds like it was an air soft gun -- a bb gun that looks like a real gun with an orange nozzle -- and he removed the orange nozzle-- which makes it look more real ....  He was trying to make it look real to be tougher...

Parents of teen boys do not assume that your kids would never own an airsoft gun or another type of bb gun or knife...   and would never be stupid enough to bring to school---  have the conversations--

I believe it was toy gun, not an air soft/BB gun.

jasper said:

BG9 said:

Thank God, we have been saved from this 15 year old toy gun terrorist.

Try him as an adult and lock him up for life !!!! Let him never again breathe the free air of America !!!

Perhaps Donald Trump can just throw him over the wall into Mexico. We've turned into a nation of fools.

I know. A good talking to both him and his parents from the school principal should have sufficed with some type of school disciplinary punishment.

And a lollipop.   Don't forget the lollipop.  

The kid who feared for his life (and may yet still), and the hundreds of students and teachers inconvenienced, and the MPD/SOPD unnecessarily involved?  Meh.  Let the kid scribble his apologies on the blackboard 100 times.  That ought to send a message.   

Excessive. Kids are stupid and we should have some common sense

cleg said:

Excessive. Kids are stupid and we should have some common sense

Exactly. What do we hope to gain by turning him into a criminal? Its certainly not going to prevent other stupid actions. 

Terrorism charges!  Seriously, what has our country come to.  We've become so mean spirited and frightened.

krugle1 said:

Terrorism charges!  Seriously, what has our country come to.  We've become so mean spirited and frightened.

Means he made a creadible threat to do harm.  Third degree felony.  It is the most minor charge in the list.

Oy.

the common sense and impulse control level of most teens is pretty low. Maybe as a preemptive measure, the school guidance counselors could meet with small groups and lay down some basic rules of common sense in this day and age and what the consequences are for breaking the rules and discuss.. My kid's counselor is a pretty cool guy and might have some sway with his counselees.

There are guidance counselors at Columbia? Who knew.

am I missing something?  the charges allege that a kid planned ahead of time to present this toy as a real weapon by removing the orange tip.  the kid then threatened another kid with it -- someone who, according to the news story thought it was a real gun.  and we're supposed to handle it with a stern talking-to?

if the kid being charged is truly a good person who just slipped up once and did something stupid, the judge can use discretion in deciding on a penalty.  it's not like the child will go to prison if this is a first offense.

how would people feel if it was their son or daughter who had a weapon they thought was a real gun pointed at them?  and was being threatened with it.

sheesh, I'm wondering what's going on when I'm the law-and-order guy in a discussion.

ml1, I would be distressed if my kid had a gun pointed at him (the news article says it was "shown" to another kid), but having a 15 yr old enter our inhuman criminal "justice" system would cause me distress.

ml1 said:

am I missing something?  the charges allege that a kid planned ahead of time to present this toy as a real weapon by removing the orange tip.  the kid then threatened another kid with it -- someone who, according to the news story thought it was a real gun.  and we're supposed to handle it with a stern talking-to?

if the kid being charged is truly a good person who just slipped up once and did something stupid, the judge can use discretion in deciding on a penalty.  it's not like the child will go to prison if this is a first offense.

how would people feel if it was their son or daughter who had a weapon they thought was a real gun pointed at them?  and was being threatened with it.

sheesh, I'm wondering what's going on when I'm the law-and-order guy in a discussion.

+1

kibbegirl said:

ml1 said:

am I missing something?  the charges allege that a kid planned ahead of time to present this toy as a real weapon by removing the orange tip.  the kid then threatened another kid with it -- someone who, according to the news story thought it was a real gun.  and we're supposed to handle it with a stern talking-to?

if the kid being charged is truly a good person who just slipped up once and did something stupid, the judge can use discretion in deciding on a penalty.  it's not like the child will go to prison if this is a first offense.

how would people feel if it was their son or daughter who had a weapon they thought was a real gun pointed at them?  and was being threatened with it.

sheesh, I'm wondering what's going on when I'm the law-and-order guy in a discussion.

+1

+2

krugle1 said:

ml1, I would be distressed if my kid had a gun pointed at him (the news article says it was "shown" to another kid), but having a 15 yr old enter our inhuman criminal "justice" system would cause me distress.

+1

I can understand a parents anger that their child was threatened by another child.   I cannot understand the need to ruin that childs life by sending them to prison/juvenile justice system.   I do not think that a judge of the law, who many times will have her hands tied by minimum sentence/penalty laws, is the appropriate place for the determination to be made.

It wasnt too long ago that discipline in school, calling in the parents, suspension, detention, even expulsion would all be used before bringing police.   

the charge is not just showing someone an imitation gun.  The kid is charged with aggravated assault and terroristic threats.  Maybe you all know something I don't.  But the charges don't sound like innocent horseplay.

And it wasn't that long ago that students *weren't* being mowed down by gun violence on a nearly daily basis.  If this happened twenty years ago it would indeed have been dealt with very differently.  

an airsoft is a toy gun.  so was it an airsoft or a water gun.

this is what an airsoft handgun looks like:

Students took the initiative to report to the school administration that another student had what appeared to be a gun. They did not state to the building administrators that it was a fake.

At that point, for all the after-the-fact commenters, what is the building admin team to do? Walk down and confront the student? Would you? They did what I would do and what each of you should do, call the police. They did. 

That is the only proper protocol to follow. If the gun had been real rather than fake and the admin team chose to ignore it or confront the kid and shooting occurred where people got wounded or killed, then I suspect that all of the same posters would be bemoaning the fact that the admin team didn't follow protocol and people suffered for it. After the huge number of attacks in schools what other course is there to follow when a report of a gun is brought to the admin team? Protocol says to call the police. By the way this happened at Maplewood Middle last year and then at CHS. One case was a real gun; one was a fake or some smaller type of gun (not real bullets anyway.)

Once the Police arrive, it is their decision, not that of the building admin team. The protocol does not allow the administrators to waive them off. 

Whether the police should have leveled these charges -- some or all -- is difficult for any if us to decide absent details of what transpired that led students to come to the administrators to report the situation. It may be the case the kid was a jerk and most of the charges might get dropped. Or, he could have been using it in a threatening manner. 

If a kid stops you on the street with a gun that you cannot tell is real or fake, you could opt for safety and hand over the phone or wallet. Or you could call the kid's bluff. But that is your own individual situation. Would you call the kid's bluff if the gun is pointed at you and you had your child next to you? What if you had 1900 children under your responsibility, what do you do? I call the cops. Cops, not the admin team, make the decisions after that.

And just so EVERYONE knows, the protocol the police follow in this building when confronting what appears to be an armed suspect with the gun drawn -- student or adult -- and the suspect does not drop the weapon, the police shoot to kill. The entire faculty was briefed on this last year. The world has changed and it is not to my liking. But that is where we are. 

So, yes the kid may have only been a jerk and eventually that may mean most of the charges will get dropped. But if he did use it in a threatening manner, then some of these charges will stick.

This is the world we live in and until school shootings stop, every school has to follow pretty much the same path.