This article was originally published in The Examiner on Dec. 14, 2017.
By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer
A Lumberton High School student was arrested after a “hit list” was found at the high school’s alternative education building around 3 p.m. Dec. 12, Lumberton ISD said in a news release.
The note was found in a 10th-grade student’s binder while the student was absent from school, Lumberton Police Chief Danny Sullins said.
Eight names were on the list, some students and some faculty, Sullins explained.
The “hit list” referred to killing the people named, Sullins said, saying, “they must go.”
“It said something to the effect of, ‘Got to kill them all,’” he said.
“It was written probably some time ago,” Sullins said, adding that the Lumberton Police Department is “familiar” with the 15-year-old.
The student admitted to writing the note and was charged with making a “terroristic threat” and taken to the Hardin County Juvenile Detention Facility in Kountze, Sullins said.
“I expect him to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” he said. “We take things like this very seriously, and we’re not going to tolerate it.”
“The campus administration acted quickly and decisively to address the situation,” Lumberton ISD spokesperson Gretchen Scoggins said in a news release. “Upon investigation and through quick action of the school and Lumberton Police Department, no student was in danger at any time and [we] were able to ensure the continued safety of our students. In today’s time, we must act upon any risk upon the students in our care.”
All of the people listed — including a former employee — were notified, Scoggins said, and the evidence has been turned over to the Lumberton Police Department.
Any discipline will be handled according to the student code of conduct, she said.
Scoggins said the district could not comment further on the situation since it is a legal matter.
Eleanor Skelton 