A group of approximately eight girls at Bradford Area High School is under investigation by police and the school district for allegedly authoring a “kill list” containing less than a dozen names of other students at the high school.
Bradford City Police Chief Chris Lucco confirmed the rumor on Wednesday, but added that he is “very confident” there is no threat to anyone from this incident.
“The school district received information on Dec. 15 from a faculty member advising of a possible ‘kill list’ having been authored by a group of students at the school,” Lucco explained. The school’s administration contacted police, and conducted an immediate investigation to determine if an actual threat existed, he said.
Katharine Pude, superintendent of the Bradford Area School District, declined to comment about the incident, adding she “can assure our parents that student safety is of utmost importance to the Bradford Area School District and we take these situations very seriously. Our administrators began investigating with the Bradford City Police as soon as this potential list was reported to us, and have issued reasonable disciplinary consequences for the students involved. Together, we are confident that no students were in danger as a result of this incident.”
Lucco explained that while the list itself was allegedly destroyed before district officials or the police saw it, the alleged suspects and students who saw the list “advised there was nothing but names on the list. It did not contain any specific threats or details of how any type of violence would be carried out.
“After interviewing all of the alleged suspects it was determined this was not a ‘kill list’ but it was a list of persons that were disliked by the authors,” Lucco said.
While rumor alleged the list was targeting the girls’ basketball team, the chief said some of the members of the team may have been on it. “But it wasn’t isolated to that group.”
There were males and females on the list, he explained. “We were not able to pinpoint exactly who was on it,” he said, but added that witnesses who allegedly had seen it shared information with police.
Police were also able to determine the list was written on Dec. 5, and the title “kill list” was written on it after that.
“It was never brought out until Thursday” of last week, the chief explained. The fact that nothing had happened during the time that passed between when the list was written and when the district learned of it, “helped ease some of the concerns of the police and the district.”
Lucco added, “The district has disciplined the students in a manner consistent with its policies and the police department and district attorney’s office are reviewing the facts of the case to determine what if any criminal violations occurred.”
