Gun-toting middle-schoolers charged with hate crime for racist threats against Black classmates
Three teenagers in Maryland were charged with hate crimes after making racist threats on social media.
Investigators said three white eighth-graders at Middletown Middle School posed with weapons and used racial slurs in Snapchat posts that were later shared Wednesday in a group chat with other students, and one of the teens was immediately pulled from class after school staffers learned of the posts, reported WTTG-TV.
"Slaves ran away," read one caption. "We finna shoot some more n*ggers."
Authorities said one of the weapons was real while the others were BB or Airsoft guns, and one of the teens was charged with firearm possession by a minor, but investigators said the teen's parents were not liable for the child gaining access to the gun.
"The situation itself is disheartening," said Eric Louérs-Phillips, executive director for public affairs at Frederick County Public Schools. "Although the images and the messages in those images are from Middletown Middle School students, the message is directed to all Black members of the community."
"It's really important to note that the students that are responsible for this are also our students," Louérs-Phillips added. "While charges have been pressed, and while there will be discipline administered, we want to make sure that our students are able to understand the weight of what they have done. The power behind those words and what it's done to our community, so they don't do it again. We do not want to ostracize them because they are part of our community, their families are part of our community."
Watch video, courtesy of WUSA9, below:'
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