Students skip school amid violence rumors

WATERBORO – Hundreds of students skipped classes at Massabesic High School on Thursday after unfounded rumors that a student arrested in a weekend standoff was poised to go on a shooting rampage, authorities said.

Three students who allegedly spread the rumors were arrested on charges of terrorizing, according to the York County Sheriff’s Department.

The rumors centered on a youth who was involved in an armed standoff over the weekend in which he held his family hostage, authorities said.

The three students who allegedly used e-mail to spread the rumors were suspended from school and released into the custody of their parents.

The three, who were friends of the boy arrested over the weekend, said he had compiled a “hit list” of people he intended to target, investigators said.

The sheriff’s department beefed up security at the school while emphasizing that there was no basis to the rumors that had been circulating since the start of the week.

“That school as we sit here now is probably the safest place in this state,” said Deputy Maurice Ouellette.

About 400 of the 1,100 students stayed away from school Thursday, school officials said. All after-school activities were canceled.