Boardman police arrested a 9-year-old boy at Center Intermediate School on Dec. 19 on a felony-2 charge of inducing panic.
      According to School Resource Officer Matthew Sell, the 4-4, 89-lb. lad was in an art class taught by Mrs. Lori Szoke when the teacher heard him blurt out “I’m going to shoot up the school.”
      According to Officer Sell, the teach “defused the situation and kept the other, nearly 25 students from losing control.”
      Upon learning of the situation, the school’s assistant principal, Nicholas Hewko, brought the 9-year-old into his office where the boy said he had been watching a television show and a character had guns for his hands.
      “[The student] felt it was a super power,” Officer Sell reported.
      Two little girls who were at a classroom table with the boy provided written statements where they claimed the boy stated he had access to guns and would bring them to school and shoot people, according to the School Resource Officer, who added “The school spoke to [the boy] again and this time he admitted to making the statements about shooting people, but denied saying he was going to shoot the school principal.”
      The boy was booked on a felony-2 charge of inducing panic in front of his mother. When she asked her child if he made the statements, “he said he was only joking,” Officer Sell said.
      Police indicated the matter would be forwarded to the juvenile court system and the boy could face school sanctions.