BRYANT, Ark. – When they are 10 and 11 years old, most children in school are learning the basics of fractions, decimals and place values. For five students in Bryant, though, fifth grade isn’t another year of adolescence but rather a time when they are facing adult problems with real consequences.
The five students were arrested Friday for making a threat against Parkway Elementary. Ever since those arrests, social media pages have been flooded with comments about their ages and the crimes they are accused of committing.
All five students are between the ages of 10 and 11 years old and are now facing charges of communicating a false alarm, terroristic threatening, harassing communications, and threatening to commit acts of mass violence on school property.
Police: 5 Bryant elementary students arrested over threats
Those charges may sound serious, but John DiPippa, dean emeritus at Bowen School of Law, said the response by local school officials and police is a sign of the times.
“I think everybody agrees that given the current climate, even if (it’s) an elementary school kid who makes a threat about shooting up a school, a school ought to be taken seriously and there ought to be some consequences,” DiPippa said.