JACKSON TEEN SUSPENDED AFTER THREATS REPORTED

JACKSON, Mo. -- An eighth-grade boy was suspended from school Thursday after making threats about shooting classmates, the principal of R.O. Hawkins Junior High said.

"He had been making off-the-cuff comments about bringing a gun to school and shooting people," said Hawkins principal Dennis Parham.

The incident mirrored another threat that had been made by a student at Cape Girardeau's Central Junior High on Wednesday. An eighth-grade boy was suspended after students overheard him make an indirect comment in the hallways about getting a gun and shooting people.

In Jackson, the threat came Wednesday during conversations among students in class, Parham said. As the boy was making threatening comments, a girl walked up to him and he told her he was going to get a gun and shoot her, too.

After school, the girl reported the incident to Parham.

The principal contacted several students at home to see whether they had heard any of the threatening comments. He said they had.

Parham also talked with the mother of the boy who had made the threats.

"His mom said he had no access to any guns at the home," the principal said.

Just kidding

The principal also talked with the boy in his office, and said the boy explained that he had not been serious.

"I think he has realized you can't do that," Parham said.

Parham would not say how long the boy's suspension would last.

"We have a wide-open policy with threats or harassment," he said. "There are no set number of days for a suspension. It depends on how severe the threat is."

The boy is going through a threat assessment program in cooperation with state juvenile authorities. The program is designed to make sure that a youth is not a threat to himself or others, Parham said.

Jackson School Superintendent Ron Anderson called the incident a good example of how to listen to what students are saying.

"The key is to listen and report what's said," Anderson said. "It's the critical part."