The parent of a middle school student in Pennsylvania was notified by school officials of a potential threat against their son’s life as his name had appeared on another student’s “kill list.”
They chose to keep him home. That same day, hundreds of miles away, a mass shooting at a Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee left three children and three adults dead.
According to FOX 29 Philadelphia, the parents, who wished to be anonymous, received a call from Lower Merion School officials on Mar. 27, notifying them their son had been threatened at Bala Cynwyd Middle School.
The parent said the school officials were made aware of a text exchange between several students, who then decided to make a list of people “who they hoped” would be shot, FOX 29 reported. The school is located in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.
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“Other students suggested that a list be made of students within the building who they hoped are shot,” the parent told FOX 29.
The students in the text group were as young as 10 years old, per the report.
“Every day I think of school shooting and hope the most people die,” read one message in the thread.
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“I hope the following people get shot,” another student responded with a list of fellow students, FOX 29 reported.
The school said the Lower Merion Police Department ultimately found “no credible threat” to students or the community, Superintendent Megan Shafer said on the Lower Merion School District’s website.
According to the report, the school district said authorities made contact with the students who shared the texts. They faced consequences and received support.
The resolution did little to assuage the parents of the student whose name made the list, FOX 29 reported.
“To me, the idea that a text message chain which references school shootings and makes a kill list is deemed to be quote “no credible threat” is absurd,” the parent told the outlet. “We elected to not send our child back to school into that environment which would have served to put him back in a building with students that put him on a kill list.”
According to the parent, the son has received support but feels “let down” by the school system.
“He feels let down by a school district that is allowing students who threatened to murder him back into the building not seeming to care about the effect that will have on his emotional well-being,” the parent said.
None of the students involved were identified.
