Alaska First-Graders Suspended for Plotting to Poison Classmate

Three first-graders at an Anchorage school have been suspended for plotting to kill a classmate with poison.

Luckily for their intended victim, two things went wrong: most importantly, another kid who learned of their scheme informed grownups before the plot could be carried out, local NBC affiliate KTUU reports. And even if they had made their attempt, they likely would have failed: they were planning to use silica gel, which is not actually considered toxic (though they thought it was).

An email to parents of first graders at Winterberry Charter School explained what happened and urged parents to encourage their kids to be like the good samaritan in this case. A spokesperson for the Anchorage Police Department said, “The important lesson here is to really teach your kids if they hear something like this, something where someone intends to do harm to someone else, they should tell someone that they trust right away.”

[KTUU]