Penn. school officials nab 5-year-old bubble-blowing terrorizer

Pictured: WMD

Next thing you know, the Mount Carmel Area School District in Pennsylvania will be hiring its own counter-terrorism squad to crack down on threats like this:

Talking with a friend about a pink toy bubble gun got a five-year-old kindergarten girl in the Mount Carmel Area School District labeled as a terrorist threat, according to an attorney.

The incident occurred Jan. 10 while the girl was waiting in line for a school bus, said Robin Ficker, the Maryland lawyer retained by the girl's family. He would not identify the girl or her parents, but gave this version of events:

Talking with a friend, the girl said something to the effect “I’m going to shoot you and I will shoot myself” in reference to the device that shoots out bubbles. The girl did not have the bubble gun with her and has never shot a real gun in her life, Ficker said.

Elementary school officials learned of the conversation and questioned the girls the next day, Fickler said. He said the girl did not have a parent present during the 30 minutes of questioning.

The result, he said, was that the student was labeled a "terrorist threat" and suspended for 10 days, Ficker said. The school also required her to be evaluated by a psychologist, Ficker said.

Can we at least say those responsible saw the light by the end?

Ficker, who said he was contacted because the mother had read he handled a similar case in Maryland, suggested she ask the principal to expunge the record. That did not happen, but her suspension was reduced to two school days, and the reason for it changed to being labeled as a threat to harm another student.

Well, they saw twilight, anyway.

You’ve really got to keep an eye on them, I suppose, those rascally young’uns and their bubble-guns. Scourge of unprotected eyeballs everywhere, they are.

(via @iowahawkblog; RT: @radleybalko)