NEW CASTLE —
A 13-year-old New Castle High School student who devised a “kill list” on his Neo is facing criminal charges.
New Castle police chief Bobby Salem said a juvenile petition was filed Thursday against the youth after police retrieved the contents of his electronic writing tablet.
He is charged with 11 counts of terroristic threats and is undergoing a mental evalution, Salem said. He will be sent a summons to appear in juvenile court.
Police were contacted by a school principal who said the boy was playing on his Neo writing tablet in school on March 8, and another student happened to see what he was writing. The student informant told authorities that the tablet had a “kill list” with the names of nine students and two teachers.
The student who saw the list told school officials about it and the school resource officer and the principal investigated it, Salem said.
The principal confiscated the Neo, which is a type of Apple iPad, and contacted the company’s customer service department, after finding that the information on the pad was erased when the police obtained it that day, he said.
“Once we found out what was on there, the charges were filed,” Salem said, noting the tablet had the student’s name in possessive and “kill list” after it, with the list of the 11 names.
“Normally we have to send computers out to have forensic evaluations to get results back,” Salem said, “but we did it this way through the company and got it back in a couple of days.”
Acting superintendent Stan Magusiak said yesterday the matter is under investigation at the school by adminstrators and the school security officer.
Magusiak said the student “was removed from the situation,” but he would not comment further about the boy’s status at school.
(Email: dwachter@ncnewsonline.com)
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