8 year old arrested for paper gun, words

[Blank Frank]

               Irvington Pupils Face
               Charges for Playing With
               Paper Gun.

               March 22, 2001

               IRVINGTON, N.J. (AP) _ Two second-graders playing cops
               and robbers with a paper gun were charged with making
               terrorist threats.

               The boys' parents said the situation should have been
               resolved in the principal's office, but Police Chief
Steven
               Palamara on Wednesday defended school officials and the
               district's zero-tolerance policy.

               ``It may appear to some as though we went a little
               overboard because it was a paper gun, but what would
               those same people say if this incident was ignored and in
a
               day, week or month the same student came to school with a

               firearm?'' Palamara asked.

               Authorities said that 8-year-old Hamadi Alston stood up
at
               his desk at Augusta Street School last Thursday, pointed
               paper folded to look like a gun at his classmates and
said,
               ``I'm going to kill you all.''

               Hamadi said he was imitating what his friend, Jaquill
               Shelton, had done earlier that day.

               The police chief said Jaquill had given Hamadi the paper
               gun in the bathroom.

               The two boys were suspended and, under the district's
               zero-tolerance policy, school officials notified police,
who
               charged the boys.

               ``Although the paper handgun posed no immediate threat to

               the students in the class, the words spoken certainly and

               appropriately were recognized by school officials and
               police as warning signs to cause concern,'' Palamara
said.

               The court can now determine whether either boy needs
               counseling or just a stern warning, he said.

               The parents, as well as the Essex County prosecutor's
               office, were involved immediately, he said.

               The prosecutor's office did not immediately return a
               message seeking comment on Wednesday.

               ``This is just stupid, stupid, stupid,'' Ron Alston,
Hamadi's
               father, told The Star-Ledger of Newark. ``How can you
take
               two boys to the police precinct over a paper gun? This is

               very bad judgment.''

               Superintendent Ernest Smith said he believes the boys
               meant no harm, but district policy requires that police
be
               notified of such incidents.

               ``I thought this was unfortunate,'' Smith said. ``But,
being
               that kids are being shot in schools across the country,
               children have to be taught they can't say certain words
in
               public.''