Two cheerleaders at two different Arizona schools find themselves in criminal trouble for an action that seems like an outtake from the movie "Mean Girls"; they created a “hit list”, annotated with a gun, and posted it on the social media site Instagram.
As reported by AZCentral.com, a sophomore at Butte (Az.) Poston High and an eighth grader at Butte (Az.) Walker Elementary and Middle School posted a picture of a list that was titled **HIT LIST** with a pistol pictured just after the final asterisk.
Naturally, the photo set off alarm bells in the aftermath of the Newtown Sandy Hook tragedy, and the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office wasted no time in launching an investigation into the two teens.
Shortly after it learned of the list, the Florence Unified School District sent out an official statement addressing the incident and the disturbing contents of the list.
“Nine students who attend Poston Butte or Walker Butte and one teacher from Poston Butte were on the list,” the statement said. “Parents of all students concerned, those who created the list and those who were on it, have been or are currently being contacted.”
The girls maintained they did not intend to harm anyone on the list, [Pinal County Sheriff’s spokeman Tamra] Ingersoll said.
“Neither student has a history of disciplinary incidents,” the school district’s statement said. “However, all threats are taken very seriously, and both students will be suspended pending a hearing.”
According to AzFamily.com, the two cheerleaders were suspended for an unspecified time for publishing the list. As much as when they will return, the question now appears to be whether they will be allowed to return to the school at all. With potential criminal charges of threatening and intimidating in the offing, it may be some time before either is deemed safe to set foot in a public school again.
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