Three students have been charged for creating threatening images.
Middletown, Md. (NS) – Three Middletown Middle School students face hate crime charges after threatening images from Snapchat surfaced.
A crowd gathered on Friday morning in front of the school to show solidarity against racism in the community.
One woman in the crowd, Theresa, had bi-racial children grow up in Middletown and attend the schools.
“The fact that this has happened right now and is coming out is just a sign of the times. We’re in this day and age where we have social media and all these other things where these things can come out. But this is just inherent of another problem. These things start at home,” Theresa said.
She believes these actions are passed down by parents and grandparents.
Nicole, a mother of a Middletown High School student, was also there.
“When my daughter came home and told me about what had occurred and what was posted on social media, I thought she was mistaken. I thought, ‘No way. There’s no way it’s that bad. There’s no way this happened in our community.’ When she showed me these pictures, I thought I would be ill,” said Nicole.
She added that parents should be held accountable when their children commit hate crimes.
Another woman, Kristen, who has a student at Middletown High School, called WFMD’s Morning News Express to share her thoughts.
“My son is a bi-racial student in Middletown and he has not had the experience that there’s any kind of rampant racism going on within the school there. We just moved here two years ago and he loves his friends and he loves pretty much everybody that he’s encountered at the school,” said Kristen.
The crowd dispersed when the school day started.
The Sheriff’s Office’s investigation into the incident is continuing.