A Colorado Springs first grader, Elijah, shaped his fingers like a gun, looked at a classmate, and said “bang, you’re dead.”
That’s all it took to get Elijah booted from school for a one-day suspension, charged with “threats against peers.”
His father, Austin Thurston, told his son’s story to local news station KRDO, observing that maybe a punishment like “skip recess” might have been more appropriate. “Going as far as a one-day suspension is a little extreme for a six-year-old in a first-grade class.”
Thurston, unlike the school administrators, does not believe this infraction signals that his son is a tiny murderous psychopath. “Of course I think he was playing,” he said. “What six-year-old doesn’t play cops and robbers, or cowboys and Indians?”
Elijah’s parents have since taught him that it’s not always appreciated when you pretend to shoot people, and are going to have him voluntarily send an apology letter–as in, handle it the way it should have been handled in the first place.
“He knows the difference between really doing that, and just putting your finger up and saying, ‘boom you’re dead,'” Thurston assured. “We made sure he understands the severity of what he said.”
(h/t The Blaze)
