Middle schoolers’ racist threats on social media end in hate crime charges, MD cops say
Three middle school students face hate crime charges after police say they posted photos with threats “specifically targeting Black students” online to Instagram and Snapchat, according to authorities in Maryland.
The eighth graders at Middletown Middle School are also accused of holding weapons in the photos, several of which were determined as fake, the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook. The investigation began the morning of March 9 following a parent’s complaint about the “disturbing images,” a lieutenant said at a March 10 news conference.
“We can’t and we won’t tolerate these types of threats or messages, messages that disrupt or create fear in our communities. Let me be very clear, the students responsible are going to face some serious consequences,” Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said at the news conference before the hate crime charges were announced.
The students are accused of captioning the photos with racial slurs and threatening harm to Black students while holding the weapons, according to Fox 5.
One of the weapons pictured was determined to be a real handgun and one student faces an additional charge of possession of a firearm by a minor, Lt. Jason Deater said at the news conference.
“Racism in (Frederick County Public Schools) is unacceptable and the hate speech directed towards the Black community is unacceptable,” said Eric Louers-Phillips, the school district’s executive director of public affairs.
On March 11, a large group of parents were rallying outside of the school in Middletown, the sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook sharing a photo of the large crowd.
Deater said that the investigation is ongoing and will occur over the next week or two.
“I’m appealing to the parents of Middletown and the students of the Middletown school system and other schools to please stop posting information, reposting information, about the threat,” Jenkins said.
“This reposting is only fueling the problems and the concerns of the community over there.”
Louers-Phillips said the “reposting of such images continues to retraumatize those individuals that are viewing them” and that it “does not help.”
On March 9, authorities said they made sure “there was not an immediate active threat inside the school” and then they interviewed each of the students facing charges and their parents, according to a Facebook post that day. The students provided their cellphones which were forensically downloaded by deputies.
Deater said at the news conference that the students were each specifically charged with hate crime CR 10–304, which is “motivated either in whole or in substantial part by another person’s or group’s race, color, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, disability, or national origin, or because another person or group is homeless,” according to the Maryland General Assembly.
“FCPS has no tolerance for discriminatory language and hate speech,” the school system said in a statement.
The three students aren’t currently allowed on school property and disciplinary actions will be taken, Louers-Phillips said.
Frederick County Public Schools has about 45,000 students, including 52% who are white, 20% Hispanic, 14% Black and 7% Asian.
Middletown is located 78 miles northwest of Annapolis.
This story was originally published March 11, 2022 at 12:15 PM with the headline "Middle schoolers’ racist threats on social media end in hate crime charges, MD cops say."
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