Parents Say Threat to School Overblown
Some parents of middle school students arrested for allegedly plotting to burn down their school believe authorities overreacted.
Sunnyvale police arrested nine students, ages 12 to 14, after investigating an alleged plot to set fire to Cupertino Middle School on Friday night. One student was reportedly angry at a teacher for giving him detention.
They were arrested on suspicion of arson and felony vandalism, but officers found neither weapons nor flammable materials.
Two of the boys’ mothers contend that authorities overreacted to an unlikely scheme. The parents said a few ringleaders led other boys into a fantasy of revenge.
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