An Indiana teacher was arrested on Thursday after allegedly telling a fifth-grader that she made a “kill list” targeting students and staff members, police said.
St. Stanislaus School teacher, Angelica Carrasquillo-Torres, reportedly mentioned the plans to a fifth-grade student around noon on Wednesday. East Chicago police officers were dispatched to the Catholic school later that afternoon.
“A 5th grade student told his/her Counselor that their 5th grade teacher made comments to him/her about killing herself, students, and staff at St. Stanislaus School,” East Chicago Police Department said on Facebook.
“The teacher further told the student that she has a list and that he/she was on the bottom of that list,” the statement added.
The 25-year-old teacher was escorted to the principal’s office and allegedly admitted that the student’s claims were all true.
“During the conversation the teacher named a specific student on her list, but did not provide the list,” East Chicago police said.
The principal then asked Carrasquillo-Torres to leave the school and not return. Police officers, who were not aware of the situation until four hours later, arrived at 5 p.m. They took the teacher into custody without incident the next morning.
Parents have expressed frustration that the school allowed the teacher to leave and failed to call police right away.
“The original email that we received last night had no information of what was going on other than there was an issue in that specific classroom,” Kirsten Saldivar, the parent of a Pre-K student at St. Stanislaus School, told Fox 32 Chicago. “We knew nothing and we went about our normal schools days like nothing was wrong.”
East Chicago police are still investigating. So far, no charges have been filed.
The school moved to virtual classes for Friday. Counselors have also been made available to students and staff.