Two Florida middle school students are accused of drawing up a list of nine people they planned to kill, WTSP reported.
The 14-year-old girls, whose names were not released, were arrested Wednesday and charged with nine counts of conspiracy to commit murder and three counts of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, the Highland County Sheriff’s Office said.
The teenagers were taken to a Florida Department of Juvenile Justice facility in Bartow, the Highland News-Sun reported.
The Sheriff's Office said a teacher at Avon Park Middle School noticed two students in her class acting "hysterical" while looking for a folder, the newspaper reported. The teacher found the folder, which was allegedly was labeled "private info," do not open," and "Project 11/9," WTVT reported.
According to the Sheriff's Office, the list allegedly contained information about how people on the list would be killed and where their bodies would be buried, WFLA reported. According to an arrest affidavit, five of the pages in the folder contained detailed plans to contact nine people, WTSP reported. "The plans were written in great detail as to how they would lure the victims, kill the victims, and dispose of the victims' bodies," according to the Highlands County Sheriff's Office.
The folder also contained information about what clothing the girls would wear, including gloves, WTVT reported.
In a statement, Andrew Lethbridge, Highlands County’s deputy superintendent, said that students and adults “are all held accountable for the information that we communicate.”
“The (school board) takes threats very seriously and we work closely with the (Sheriff’s Office) to investigate them,” Lethbridge said. “We have stressed the concept that if staff or students hear or see something that concerns them, to please share that information with an adult that can do something about it. In this situation, we witnessed this concept in action. This enables us to be proactive and respond to situations prior to an incident taking place.”
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