Girls Charged with Conspiring to Kill Oprah, Classmates

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

I think what's interesting about this is the fact that we mostly think of any kind of school violence as brought about by males, so to have girls charged with this sort of thing is very scary, knowing that in a way this disease is spreading. Do you think that the fact that celebrities were named was a way to make people think it was a joke, so they'd dismiss the list so that the girls could carry out their plan?

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (AP) -- Six girls at a rural high school were charged with homicide conspiracy after their principal found a list of 300 names and officials discovered online postings suggesting they kill people, authorities said Thursday.

School officials said the list, discovered in a classroom trash can, mostly named students and faculty members but also included Tom Cruise, Oprah Winfrey and the Energizer Bunny.

Sequatchie County High School Principal Tommy Layne said that he initially considered it a joke, but that authorities then found the ninth-graders' online MySpace pages and postings that included the word "kill."

"In general terms, it was like, 'Let's kill these people,' " Dunlap Police Chief Clint Huth said. He declined to provide the specific wording on the posting, which has been removed.

"I am not saying we thwarted a shooting incident or an act of violence," Huth said. "On the other hand, had this gone unchecked, down the road it could have grown into something a whole lot more serious than a list of names."

There was no evidence that the girls had weapons or that an attack had been imminent, Huth said.

The girls, ages 14 and 15, were charged with conspiracy to commit criminal homicide late Wednesday and taken to a juvenile facility. A juvenile court detention hearing was set Friday in Dunlap, about 40 miles northwest of Chattanooga.

Layne said he learned about the list Tuesday when a "young man came in with his grandmother and said his name was on the list."

No club or group was involved, said Layne, who described the girls as friends. The school has more than 600 students.

Sophomore Lakyn Ledford stayed home Thursday after learning that student-athletes were on the list.

"I was very scared. My friends were scared. That's a scary thing. It can really happen," she told WTVC-TV.

 

[UberBeaver]

Shouldn't the list be made somewhat invalid by the appearance of the fucking Energizer Bunny? Clearly these kids were delusional. You can't kill the Energizer Bunny.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

when i was a senior in high school an e-mail started going around that was a list of "people you'd like to throw off the face of the earth"

eventually, well after i had passed it along, it morphed into the "death list"

this was pre-columbine, mind you... but there were already a bunch of events in high schools that had the administration on edge. i sent a pre-emptive letter of appology to the principal once i first learned that there may be ramifications from it, and nothing ever happened, at least to me. i do believe the people who started it were suspended from school.

 

[Vincent Vega]

It's crazy, but I don't think one should be surprised that girls were starting it. You see and hear so often that people think all the bad comes from males, but it isn't. In fact, girls can be much more aggressive and harsh to each other.
And it's not that all the aggression comes from males. Girls are the same, but often more subtle, and they really exploit this picture of the innocent girl.

If that happened in Germany, they would find some computer games and blame them. I'm curious what reasons they'll provide in the USA.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

...also included Tom Cruise...

I'm all for that, please line up single file for that waiting line...

 

[Liesje]

It's crazy, but I don't think one should be surprised that girls were starting it. You see and hear so often that people think all the bad comes from males, but it isn't. In fact, girls can be much more aggressive and harsh to each other.
And it's not that all the aggression comes from males. Girls are the same, but often more subtle, and they really exploit this picture of the innocent girl.

I just finished a book on school shootings and kid violence and I believe it said that boys are more likely to react angrily and aggressively by hurting others while girls will bottle it in and hurt themselves. In either case, the key is to remember that it's a reaction, so there is something that happened to them, or something wrong that needs to be addressed, otherwise it won't do much good to punish them for these violent "symptoms".

The problem is making the call whether they're just bored, or really serious. Why are they making this list? Are they just stupid, immature kids that think it's funny, or are they really disturbed inside and intend to harm others as a result? History has shown that we should err on the side of caution and assume they are serious.

 

[Vincent Vega]

From my experience in school, and what I've heard, girls can be very mean.
When some girls didn't like each other, or generally didn't like someone, for that person it was horror.
Boys are very direct, and rather start a fight, but girls are using these subtle ways, and that's really a psychological war.
I'm sure there are also girls that start hurting themselves, but I think these are rather the victims, or girls that haven't this backup by friends.
But as soon as there was a group of girls, or the girl wasn't alone, they really started to single out mainly other girls and gave her a really hard time.

You are right that there has to be some reasons for their behaviour.
Like I said, here in Germany they always start with computer games. But that's because it is very easy to get the public against these games, and they won't have to face the real problems that are behind the killing-spree.
Because then they would have to invest money for more psycholigists in school and such.

With that case they really should try to find the realy reasons that have caused these girls to start such a list.

 

[CTU2fan]

Shouldn't the list be made somewhat invalid by the appearance of the fucking Energizer Bunny? Clearly these kids were delusional. You can't kill the Energizer Bunny.

He just keeps going, and going, and going...

 

[Vincent Vega]

 

[AtomicBono]

Shouldn't the list be made somewhat invalid by the appearance of the fucking Energizer Bunny? Clearly these kids were delusional. You can't kill the Energizer Bunny.

exactly...I don't see how anyone took it seriously...if they had no weapons or anything... I can understand being concerned about other classmates, but did they really think these girls were going to try to kill Oprah or Tom Cruise or (god forbid) the Energizer Bunny?

I remember my friend got suspended in middle school for drawing a comic where a stick figure representation of one of his teachers was killed...they don't mess around with that stuff. after Columbine I suppose they shouldnt. but sometimes I think they can overreact

 

[Bono's shades]

My first thought was "how terrible!" Then I saw that the Energizer Bunny was on the list. I'm pretty sure the whole thing is just a joke, although I can understand why the kids who go to that school and are on the list and their parents would be really upset.

 

[dazzlingamy]

I think its a little over the top to charge them. My friends and I wrote a list in high school of people we wished were dead. We didn't actually want them dead but on the list were shitty teachers, nasty boys who teased us, bitches in our class and ex boyfriends. We then burnt it and giggled to each other. IT was just a joke and i guess a bonding moment, and i would hate to think we could ever be arrested for it. Especially s like these girls we didn't actually have any weapons or anything.

Plus i think they should delve more into the lsit, whether it was just a bit of a laugh like us, or whagt these people did to these girls - and perhaps find the stem of the problem suc as bullying and fix it rather then b charged for a crime!

 

[Angela Harlem]

I was once pulled up in English, I was in year 11, mind you, for making a friend giggle. The reason was a letter I was threatening to send to Cadbury which I had written a long and serious complaint about their Caramello Koalas being upside down in the wrapper. I finished it by saying I would spare no Caramello Koala if this wasn't rectified, and was on the edge as a result of continual frustration of hoping to bite into their feet and instead finding the ears upon unwrapping. My teacher thought it was brilliant and wanted me to post it.

Whether this was a bad joke or not is irrelevant. Can anyone prove or show that they intended to inflict harm? It doesn't sound like it.

 

[Vincent Vega]

Yes, it's said in the article that at first the teacher thought it was a joke.
Only when they discovered the texts written on mySpace they started to think it could be a bit more serious.
So at least the should ask the girls for the reasons of that list.
But since they don't have any weapons, and possibly didn't intend to hurt someone, it could be decided to let it go.

Here in Germany you aren't allowed to write any list titled "Death list" or such, and if you do so you are in trouble.
I don't know how other countries handle that.

 

[UberBeaver]

Here in Germany you aren't allowed to write any list titled "Death list" or such