PORT TOWNSEND — A “death list” found at Port Townsend High School is actually a list of possible cast members for a movie two students were thinking of making, school officials say.
The movie was intended to be about a hostage situation in a school, the officials said.
The list, found crumpled and crammed between two dictionaries in an English classroom May 15, prompted an investigation by the high school as well as the Port Townsend Police Department.
After the list — naming five students, a teacher, the assistant principal and principal — was found, officials took it seriously.
The list also had the word “Germans” written on it, which had been crossed out, and “mean bad people” was also on the list.
“The students had just learned about the Holocaust and thought Germans could be the bad guys,” said Port Townsend Assistant Principal Tom Kent.
One of the authors of the list then decided he wanted to be the villain and so crossed out “Germans,” Kent said.
Probe kept under wraps
The school administration had kept the investigation into the list under wraps and only informed the listed students and their families while handwriting samples were analyzed to determine who could have written the list that was thought to be a real threat.
