MAASTRICHT - The Sint Maartenscollege in Maastricht suspended a student yesterday for the second time within three days because of an unsafe situation. This time it is about a 17-year-old boy from Meerssen who posted death threats on Internet platform Twitter.
The boy was immediately removed from class yesterday morning, says St. Martin's College's havo/vwo director Cleo Rijgersberg. Moments later, the police detained him in the school. 'Everyone dies at Sint Maartenscollege in Maastricht. I'll take care of that tomorrow,' reads the text on Thursday night that can be read on Twitter. The boy also signs there with a d/t error: 'Just a test of whether I am now seen as a terrorist'.
According to the school principal, a parent of a student from another school discovered the so-called tweet. The boy has been provisionally suspended for the duration of five days, pending further results of police questioning, Rijgersberg said. "Although he indicated that it was a test for him to see if he was taken seriously, we think this is very serious." According to the principal, it is not yet possible to say whether the boy will be permanently expelled from school. "In any case, it was a very thoughtless action."
The Twitter user also wrote: "I have had enough. Tomorrow I will go to school for the last time, I will kill all the people inside the building. Including and lastly myself'. He later added: 'Just to clarify people: I am not suicidal, I don't hate the students at school, I hate school. So no worries! He also states: 'People get busted for tweets like that. See if people really get scared now and if the police are waiting for me tomorrow.'According to Principal Rijgersberg, the school will use the incident as an opportunity to discuss social media risks with students. "We then also want to talk about motivations. We are picking up on germane issues."
At the same school on Wednesday, a 16-year-old boy was caught with a so-called airsoft gun that can shoot plastic bullets. This boy was also temporarily suspended from school for five days and arrested by the police. According to the school principal, the two were not in class together and no connection has been established as of yet.
