ROSS COUNTY, Ohio — A local magistrate in Ross County denied the Sheriff’s request to arrest a child who had a hit list at school.
It happened at Huntington Middle School on Wednesday after a student told a teacher that the child had a “hit list in his head.” The boy told the teacher there was only one name on the list and that there was no physical written list.
The teacher reported the situation to school administrators, who confronted the child the next morning at school, where the student reportedly admitted to the principal what he said.
Deputies went to the school and arrested the boy on inducing panic charges, but when they called a local magistrate for required-approval to take him to the juvenile lockup, the judicial official said they weren’t going to approve the charges and to send the child home. The magistrate told them that the county prosecutor could bring charges, if they wished.
The child was sent home, where his mother told deputies there were guns in the house, but that the boy did not have access to them.
Threats at schools are on the rise in the area. This week, the Guardian reported a student at Chillicothe Intermediate School had a kill list with 12 names, but police decided not to file charges. In Pickaway County, a student was charged for threats earlier this week; and, in Greenfield, the schools were closed on Friday for a bomb threat, police officials said.