A 5th-grade teacher in Indiana has been arrested for telling a student that she had a "kill list" of students and other faculty members.
The St. Stanislaus School teacher, Angelica Carrasquillo-Torres, 25, told the school's principal that the student's claims were true.
On Wednesday, October 12, at approximately 12:45 p.m., a 5th-grade student told their counselor that Carrasquillo-Torres made comments to them about killing herself, students, and staff on campus.
The teacher also allegedly told the student that she has a "kill list" and that the student was at the bottom of the list.
"The teacher was immediately escorted in to the Principal’s office to discuss the matter," according to a statement posted by the East Chicago Police Department on their Facebook page. "While discussing the matter in the office the teacher allegedly admitted to the Principal that she did in fact make those statements to the student and confirmed that she did have a 'kill list.' During the conversation, the teacher named a specific student on her list, but did not provide the list. The Principal then advised the teacher to leave and not return to school pending an investigation."
The department said that "the East Chicago Police Department was not made aware of the situation until 4 hours later after the teacher was allowed to leave. Once Officers were notified they completed a report and notified the Criminal Investigation Division."
The principal is now facing backlash from parents for not calling the police sooner.
"The original email that we received last night had no information of what was going on other than there was an issue in that specific classroom," Kirsten Saldivar, the parent of a Pre-K student at St. Stanislaus School, told a local Fox affiliate. "We knew nothing and we went about our normal schools days like nothing was wrong."
The following day, the department was able to obtain an emergency detention order for the teacher.
Carrasquillo-Torres was taken into custody at approximately 11:15 a.m. on Thursday at her Griffith residence without incident.
The incident remains under investigation and it does not appear that any charges have been filed at this time.
