Teacher Accused of Keeping 'Kill List' Receives Sentence

UPDATE Aug 7, 2023 5:55 PM CDT

A former fifth grade teacher who reportedly said she'd compiled a "hit list" of students of staff members has been sentenced in a plea deal. Angelica Carrasquillo, 25, of Griffith, Indiana, pleaded guilty to an intimidation count on Friday, the AP reports. She was placed on probation for 2½ years and will not be able to work at a school or daycare in that time. Carrasquillo is prohibited from contacting victims, and the court will monitor her mental health treatment. School officials said she had told them: "I'm having trouble with my mental health, and sometimes the kids do not listen in the classroom. I also have trauma caused when I went to high school."

Oct 14, 2022 8:23 AM CDT

An elementary school teacher in Indiana has been arrested after police say she told a student she had a "kill list" that named multiple students and staffers at the school. Police say they got a call from St. Stanislaus School in East Chicago late Wednesday afternoon and were told of the student's allegations by the principal and assistant principal, per WLS. According to school leaders, fifth grader Portia Jones confided in her counselor that 25-year-old Angelica Carrasquillo-Torres talked about wanting to kill not only herself, but also kids and employees at the private Catholic school, and that she had an apparently prioritized list—on which she said Portia appeared near the bottom.

"She said she wanted to choke us," Portia says, adding, per CBS News: "She said that she wanted to kill her middle school friends, her high school friends, and half of her family." A second student also reportedly told higher-ups at the school about Carrasquillo-Torres making threats. The teacher was immediately brought to the principal's office, where police say she admitted to making such comments and having such a list. She was then sent home by school officials until an investigation could be carried out; East Chicago police say they received the call about what had happened about four hours after she'd left school property. It's that last part that has parents particularly upset. "They should've called the police right then and there," Quiannis Jones, Portia's dad, says.

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Police arrested Carrasquillo-Torres at her Griffith home on Thursday. As of Friday morning, no charges appear to have yet been filed against her, per WISH. In a statement, the school's principal assured parents that "at all times, students were safe, and school continued as normal while we addressed the situation," per WLS. The principal added that police were notified after students had been "safely dismissed" for the day, and that authorities didn't find the need to have any police presence at the school. Parents, meanwhile, want to know who exactly appeared on the alleged kill list. Classes at the school are being held virtually on Friday to accommodate for any emotional distress any students may be feeling. (Read more Indiana stories.)