The material a student used to create a noose at Fred T. Foard High School on Monday was the string from a hoodie sweatshirt, according to the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office.
“A student pulled it out in a classroom and made it into a noose,” said Coy Reid, Catawba County sheriff. “The teacher didn’t see it.”
Reid said the four boys involved in the altercation were in the same class as the girl on the receiving end of the threat. The class took a bathroom break, and the boys went into a bathroom. When they came out, they still had the noose, and made a comment to the girl about it, Reid said.
He said the girl, 14, was the first person the boys came across. They showed her the noose they had, saying they had made it for her, Reid said. The four 14-year-old boys are white and the girl is black. Reid said the five students are friends, and after the boys showed her the noose, they talked afterward.
“But the more she thought about it, the more it offended her,” he said.
She reported it to school officials, and it was then investigated by the sheriff’s department, the school system and the FBI, Reid said.
“The FBI did an investigation and determined it was not a hate crime. It doesn’t meet the elements of the statute,” he said. “Since her parents have gotten the whole story, they are satisfied with the FBI’s, sheriff’s and school’s investigations. The boys know it was not right.”
While the sheriff’s department has completed its investigation, Catawba County Schools has not, said Glenn Barger, superintendent.
Two of the boys were given in-school suspensions for what has been classified as bullying, he said. The other two, who had a more active role in the incident, have out-of-school suspensions.
They are suspended up to exams (on Tuesday),” Barger said. “If we have to go beyond that, we will.”
He said the school system interviewed the female student with her parents.
“She felt she was not in danger. She just wanted it to stop,” Barger said.
The school system is continuing its investigation to ensure there is nothing more to the incident, he said.
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