Kansas girl, 13, who pointed finger gun at classmates led out of school in handcuffs and charged with felony
OVERLAND PARK, KANSAS: A Kansas middle school girl who made a gun out of her fingers and pointed it at several of her classmates before then pointing it at herself was hauled out of her school in handcuffs and charged with felony.
The incident in question happened on September 18 at the Westridge Middle School in Overland Park, around 13 miles south of Kansas City, following a class discussion where a student asked the 13-year-old girl who were the five people she wanted to kill in class, according to the Kansas City Star.
In response, she allegedly made a finger pistol and pointed it at five of her classmates and then at herself. An individual who felt threatened by her actions used the school's online anti-bullying app to alert administrators, who conducted an investigation and informed the school resource officer.
The resource officer, who is employed by the city's police department, then interviewed both the students to confirm the incident and recommended that she be arrested. She was subsequently led out of the school in handcuffs and charged with criminal threat, which is a felony offense, before being released to her mother.
Court documents filed in connection to the case state that the 13-year-old "unlawfully and feloniously communicated a threat to commit violence, with the intent to place another, in fear, or with the intent to cause the evacuation, lockdown or disruption in regular, ongoing activities..." or created the risk of causing such fear.
In a release addressing the incident, police similarly said, "Too often there are reports of violence in schools and inevitably questions about what could or should have been done to prevent the tragedy. Threats in schools are taken very seriously and treated appropriately."
The girl is set to make her first appearance in the Juvenile Division of the District Court of Johnson County on October 15 for her hearing, and her grandfather Jon Cavanaugh stated that things had gone way too far.
"I think that this is something that probably could have been handled in the principal’s office and got completely out of hand," he said. "She was just mouthing off."
He said his granddaughter had no access to a real gun and had no real intention of harming anyone, adding that he was worried about her future because he was informed she could face as much as a year at a juvenile detention center.
The felony charge, if upheld, could also hamper her chances of getting into certain universities, as well as the military.