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5th Graders Bomb Plot: Clifton High School Targeted By Children With A ‘Device’

By Tara Dodrill
Published on: 06:30 PST, Dec 3, 2015

A high school bomb threat in New Jersey has placed a group of fifth graders in big trouble. The elementary school children planned to attack Clifton High School during an upcoming field trip, police investigators said.

The fifth graders behind the high school bomb threat were detained for questioning and suspended from school on Wednesday, MSN reports. Clifton police investigators said the students brought a device to school to use during the attack and are not considering the incident a prank. Law enforcement investigators said the fifth graders wanted to “cause damage.”

The device was investigated and ultimately determined not to contain explosives. Detective Sergeant Robert Bracken told the Record that the device contained contained vinegar and cinnamon.

The fifth graders planning the Clifton High School bomb threat were thwarted when administrators and teachers at the school discovered a written plan detailing how the attack would take place. The New Jersey school officials immediately called the police. The five fifth graders are believed to be comprised of four girls and one boy.

“It was not a prank. They had a legitimate plan,” Detective Sergeant Bracken added.

Clifton police investigators also said that someone else may have helped the 10 and 11 year of fifth graders plan the high school bomb threat, New Jersey News 12 reports.

The Clifton School District serves students from in Passaic County, New Jersey. It has the largest student body in a single facility in the state. The high school has a student population of about 3,274 and employs around 230 teachers. A total of 1,152 of the students at the school are eligible for the free or reduced lunch program.

Police officials said that that five fifth graders were planning to detonate their device during an assembly scheduled at the high school on Wednesday. Why they targeted the high school is either not yet known, or the information has not been released to the public.

The Clifton, New Jersey, school district educates approximately 10,853 students in 17 schools buildings. According to the K12Niche public school tracking website, a total of 62 percent of the students in this district are considered proficient in math and/or reading. The school district reportedly has an annual budget of $157,875,000, and spends an average of $14,363 per student.

Student demographics information states that about 51 percent of the children and teens educated in the Clifton School District are Hispanic, 31 percent are white, seven percent are Asian, and five percent are black. About five percent of the students are English as a second language learners.

All five of the fifth graders were released to the custody of their parents Wednesday evening. All of the students involved in high school bomb threat were suspended. Although no charges have been filed against the elementary school students yet, police note that the investigation into the planned attack is still ongoing.

Check back with the Inquisitr for more details about the 5th graders bomb plot at Clifton High School as additional details become available.

Do you think the 5th graders involved in the high school bomb plot should face criminal charges?

[Image via Shutterstock.com]

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