As a parent, this news story will make you question whether or not children are truly capable of doing something so bad.
In Anchorage, Alaska, three school children from Winterberry Charter School planned to poison and kill a fellow classmate.
Reports said that their plot involved using silica gel to poison their classmate.
The children were under the misguided belief that silica, a substance enclosed in food bags to preserve food, is toxic and planned to put in in the classmate’s lunch.
Jennifer Castro, a spokesperson for the Anchorage Police Department, said:
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“The students had taken some plastic packets that are inside of a sealed food bag, meant for preservation of the food and say ‘do not consume’ on the packaging, and brought them to school with the intent of putting them in another student’s lunch.”
Their plan was exposed when another student overheard them talking about it; the student then went to alert a teacher.
“The age is one of the things that is most surprising to people who were hearing about this,” said Heidi Embley to the Alaska Dispatch News.
“The kids are at such a young age. Without revealing any information as to what occurred during the investigation, there are a lot of conversations to get an understanding of what actually happened, how the students were feeling.”
The three children were faced with suspension, but they are expected to return after their punishment’s completion.
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School psychologists were also involved to determine whether or not the students fully understood their actions.
According to Embley, the school sent out letters to parents the day the plot came to light. She also said that among the school’s top priority is the students’ safety, and that the school takes everything that threatens that safety “very seriously.”
“It is important for parents to talk with their children about speaking up when they learn of something that could potentially harm others,” officer Jennifer Castro said.
“We are thankful for the student [who] said something to a trusted authority when they learned of the potentially harmful situation to another student.”
This is another reason why parents must monitor the people that their children interact; their minds at this stage in their life are extremely malleable. One bad influence in their life can have grave influences to what kind of person they will grow up to be.
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