After one student tweeted a video of himself brandishing a gun, parents said their children are ‘terrified’ to attend class at a West Australian school.
Although police have assured families from the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community High School in the state’s Goldfields region that their children are secure, it has done little to assuage fears.
Last week, a male student shared a series of videos and photographs on Snapchat showing him brandishing a firearm, while another student warned of a possible’shoot up’ at the school.
Police were called to the high school, but they confirmed that there was no ‘active shooter threat’ and that the gun was never carried on campus, and that no pupils were in danger.
Children were still afraid to turn up, according to an auntie of two boys at the school.
‘I had one boy that didn’t even want to go to school. He was crying, and telling my sister ”no, I don’t want to go to school” because he’s terrified,’ she told the Kalgoorlie Miner.
She said the claims from police were ‘ridiculous’.
‘Just ask the kids, they will tell you. It doesn’t stray, each time you ask a different kid, they all say the same thing,’ she added.
‘My nephew said to me, ”Aunty, they don’t just bash you, they’ll stab you” and it’s like what? Where are we?’.
A pupil was allegedly hurt earlier this year by another student using a ‘bladed weapon.’
A tiny number of students at Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community High School have been involved in violent situations, according to WA Department of Education director-general Lisa Rodgers.
‘We have deployed additional staff to provide support and increase supervision before and after school hours,’ she said.
‘It’s disappointing that the choices and actions of a very small group of students at the school have disrupted the learning of the majority of students who continue to do the right thing.
‘Violence is never OK, and any students involved in fights in public schools may be suspended or, in serious cases, face further disciplinary action such as exclusion in line with the State Government’s action plan against violence.’
The teenager who posted a series of images and a video of himself brandishing the weapon on Snapchat last week prompted the gun fears.
The armed teenager is shown carrying the gun and listening to a hip hop music while wearing a bag around his neck in the video. He was reloading the rifle in the clip, according to West.
The Department of Education and WA Police officers went to the school to investigate, but it wasn’t long before a second student published a separate social media post warning that the youngster would bring the handgun to a school building for a’school shoot up,’ instructing children not to attend to school.
Share on Facebook «||» Share on Twitter «||» Share on Reddit «||» Share on LinkedIn