Student Hit List Brings Swift Response From School and Police

A Middle School student was subject to discipline and may face additional action after he allegedly wrote names of students on a "hit list" in the school cafeteria Tuesday at lunch.

Immediately after lunch, two students, independently, told the principal and a school guidance counselor about the list, said Middle School Principal Robert Murphy.

The student who wrote the classmates' names was questioned by the principal in his office and the boy produced the list, the principal said.

The principal notified the Swampscott school resource officer and the superintendent.

Police responded to the school with a detective and officer to investigate, according to the police department's log.

The principal also assembled his crisis team, including the school nurse, a guidance counselor and the vice principal. The students whose names were on the list were placed with adults for reassurance while their parents were notified.

The parents came to the school and met with their children.

Those students finished the day at school and returned on Wednesday.

The school's response all took place in about 30 minutes of the discovery of the list, the principal said.

The principal said he and his team take any kind of threat seriously. He credits the students for bringing the incident to his and the guidance counselor's attention.

He said the student who is said to have made the list faced an appropriate level of discipline based on severity of the incident.

The matter is in police's hands at this point. 

The principal said he is confident that the school is secure and the students are safe.