Shooting, Bombing 'Jokes' Lead To Discipline

Across the nation, students are being suspended or expelled for making idle threats to shoot or bomb their schools.

Apparently, officials said, some students are not taking the tragedy at Littleton, Colo., seriously and some have gone so far as to make "jokes" about it.

In Kosciusko County, though, shooting classmates is not a laughing matter, and threats, no matter how serious, are being investigated.

"We are going to deal with these situations firmly and swiftly," said Warsaw school superintendent Dr. Lee Harman. "And we're just not going to tolerate any threats."

Comments on the playground of Harrison Elementary School brought police to the campus Monday, as did statements from a 15-year-old at Warsaw Community High School.

Capt. Steve Foster of the Warsaw Police Department said today that all such incidents will be taken seriously and investigated thoroughly. Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine agreed with Foster's stand and said his department will assist the schools "in any way we can."

The elementary school incident involved two fourth-graders talking about "blowing something up at 5 a.m." during futuristic play at recess, Foster said. Other students overheard the comments and reported the matter to school officials, who contacted police.

At the high school, no charges were filed, but the teen's future at WCHS is in question.

Police said the student has no criminal record, and he told an officer that "it was all a 'joke' and that he wouldn't do that." The teen reportedly told fellow classmates that he "could easily take out people" and that he "wanted to come in through the Career Center and shoot people." He also reportedly made comments about shooting and bombing people in the cafeteria and that he had six associates that could help him. A notebook containing writing about hatred and death was confiscated by authorities.

The teen's parents allowed police to search their home and another house they own to assure law enforcement that their son was not in possession of any bomb-building materials, weapons or suspicious items.

Although no charges were filed, paperwork was filled out on this matter and placed in the teen's juvenile record at the request of Kosciusko County Prosecutor Chuck Waggoner.

"To mock or make light of the serious tragedy at Littleton is not humorous," Foster said. "I don't find those incident funny."

Because of the incident at Littleton, Foster said, people are going to call and report things they normally wouldn't have called about before. "We will follow up on everything," he said.

Foster said he thinks parents should spend some time with their children and discuss the seriousness of the Littleton situation.

"This is a bigger problem than law enforcement or schools," Rovenstine said. "It's a society problem ... We've taken away the parents' rights to discipline children. We've taken away the schools' right to discipline children. What do we expect?"

He said he plans to get his tactical people into the schools in his jurisdiction to get floor plans drawn and on file.

"People ask how we can stop this [future tragedies]," Rovenstine said. "We can't stop it, we can just react."