Police Foil Primary School Plot to Attack Teacher

The plot was meticulously prepared. The group was armed with a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape, and a glass paperweight, and members had been assigned specific roles including standing guard and cleaning up after the attack.

What shocked police officers as they moved in, acting on a tip-off, was the nature of the would-be attackers and their chosen victim. The group included nine primary school pupils, girls as well as boys, aged eight and nine; their apparent target was their schoolteacher in Georgia.

None of the children can be named, nor charged under Georgia law. But Tony Tanner, the local police chief, said the intended assault had been serious.

He told reporters: "We did not hear anybody say they intended to kill her, but could they have accidentally killed her? Absolutely."

The group of nine is known to have come from the class of the teacher, who was named by the Times-Union of Jacksonville, Florida, as Belle Carter. Their teacher, who is due to retire at the end of the year, was described as a respected veteran of the school, Center Elementary, in Waycross, Georgia.

Parents at the 500-pupil school were shocked as details of the planned attack began to leak out. Threats and violence are rare at the school, which has been commended for its record for the past six consecutive years.

Theresa Martin, a spokeswoman for the regional school board, told the Times-Union that the nine children were all facing disciplinary measures that could involve prolonged suspension. Initial police inquiries suggested the plot may have been hatched in revenge after the teacher had reprimanded a girl pupil for standing on a chair.

Officers first became aware of the planned assault when a fellow pupil alerted them that a weapon had been brought into school. When they searched the premises, they found an array of items including the broken steak knife and handcuffs, as well as electrical and transparent tape.