Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
ST. MARYS, Pa. (AP) — Police say a 9-year-old student made hoax cellphone calls from a school bus, reporting a shooting at a northwestern Pennsylvania school.
State police and those in St. Marys, where the incident occurred Tuesday afternoon, say the student is too young to be prosecuted under Pennsylvania law and did not realize the magnitude of the response that the prank would prompt.
State police say the student called Elk County 911 dispatchers just after 3 p.m. — about 20 minutes after school dismissed for the day — reporting a shooting at the St. Marys Area High School.
Police say the incident seemed more credible because there was some kind of traffic on the school resource officer's radio about the same time. That proved to be a coincidence as the officer was off sick.
The student could face expulsion.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
