WYANDOTTE – A cognitively impaired student’s unsolicited joking verbal threat to another cognitively impaired student was documented by police Wednesday at Roosevelt High School’s request after one friend told another he would go home, get a gun and shoot his friend in the head.
A school security officer advised police of the statements made during a lunch hour and said both students were cognitively impaired. Neither student communicates well, a condition that experts say becomes worse under stress.
At the advice of staff members, an officer asked the student who made the threat simple yes-or-no questions. He determined the students were friends and have the same teacher and lunch hour, and that the statement about the gun was made jokingly without provocation.
The student making the threat lives outside the city. He confirmed that there were no weapons in the home, and that his statement was a joke.
The student agreed that such statements were not appropriate for a school environment and should not be expressed.
The student to whom the threat was addressed was not questioned. Police were not able to reach either set of parents at the time of the interview at the school.
A telephone call to Principal Mary McFarlane Thursday seeking comment for this story was unreturned as of press time.