An elementary school teacher in North Carolina threated to “shoot up the school,” authorities said.
Pathways Elementary School teacher Kristen Thompson was arrested on May 21 and charged with communicating a threat of mass violence.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release that Thompson resigned on May 17. The office said she “made threats to shoot up the school.” Other teachers tipped authorities off.
According to an arrest warrant obtained by WRAL, Thompson told three colleagues that she’d use the message “the squash is ripe” to signal to them to flee the school before carrying out the school shooting. One of the teachers told deputies: “Any day she does not come in and shoot the school is a good day.”
“This situation is being handled by law enforcement with the safety of our students and school staff as our utmost concern,” Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood said in a statement. “Meanwhile, this situation is also being dealt with by school leadership as a personnel issue as well as a safety one.”
Orange County Schools spokesman Seth Stephens told the News & Observer that administrators conveyed the threat to police after learning about it.
“Once school administration was made aware about an alleged threat by Kristen Thompson, law enforcement was contacted immediately,” he said in an email.
Parents said they were disturbed to hear about the threats.
“In these days and times just to say something like that sad,” Nadiyah McGriff, a parent of a Pathways student, told WNCN.
“Apparently she’s got a lot more problems than what everybody knew about,” added Donna Underwood, another parent.
“She’s around the kids all the time. So I mean that’s scarier for a teacher, for a teacher saying that stuff than it would be somebody outside,” said James George, another parent.
Thompson’s court date was scheduled for June 14.
Colorado Teen Called Mom While Subduing School Shooter
A student who helped thwart a shooting at a suburban Denver high school says he was still pinning one of the attackers down when he decided to call one of the most important people in his life—his mother.
Joshua Jones, an 18-year-old senior at STEM School Highlands Ranch, said during a news conference Tuesday he was watching “The Princess Bride” in his British literature class when a classmate pulled a gun and told everyone to stay still. Jones said he was acting on instinct when he, Kendrick Castillo, and Brendan Bialy subdued one of two students who attacked the school south of Denver on May 7.
Castillo was killed, and Jones was shot twice in one leg but said he is recovering quickly.
“There wasn’t a whole lot that was going through my mind at the time. Adrenaline and tunnel vision are a crazy thing,” said Jones, who described himself as just a normal teenage kid. “They make it so that you don’t really focus on anything but what’s right in front of your face at that moment.”
He did, however, have the presence of mind to call his mom.
“She always has been a problem solver for me,” he said, adding that she told him not to worry. “It was a pretty quick conversation.
“It was really just something like, ‘Hey, Mom. There’s been a school shooting. I’ve been involved. The authorities are on the way. They’re going to get an ambulance and I’m going to go to the hospital. That’s all I got right now for you.’”
The second shooter was captured by an armed security guard.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.