ANCHORAGE, Alaska—Three first-graders in Alaska’s largest city plotted to kill a fellow student with silica gel packets that the girls believed was poison, authorities said Wednesday.
The three have been suspended but not charged with any crime.
Parents of the 32 first-graders attending Winterberry Charter School in Anchorage got word of the plot in a March 22 email from the principal. The three female students acknowledged that they planned to poison a female classmate, school district officials said.
A school resource officer interviewed the girls and determined they intended to harm to the other girl, but charges will not be filed, police said. Silica gel packets, which soak up moisture, are not poisonous.
“I’m not sure what we could criminally charge first-graders with,” police spokeswoman Jennifer Castro said, noting that no parents or other adults were involved. “What ended up happening was the officer took each one of them individually, had a very a serious talk with all of them.”
Administrators and school district psychologists talked to the girls to see if they understood what they were trying to do, whether it was a prank gone wrong, or if they actually meant to hurt their classmate, school district spokeswoman Heidi Embley said.
“All of these things are being discussed, especially since it’s such a young age,” she said.
