Yesterday was “May the Fourth” day, otherwise known as “Star Wars Day”, and one exuberant student in Ashwaubenon, WI thought he’d attend classes at his Green Bay area high school in style: dressed up as a Star Wars character.
But as innocent as his intentions were, his actions had a much different, much darker reaction.
Ashwaubenon Public Safety said the parent of another student became concerned after seeing the high schooler dressed as a Star Wars character and alerted authorities, reporting a student wearing a “ballistic-type vest” carrying a backpack and bag into the school.
The school was evacuated and Brown County Sheriffs’ Department assisted Ashwaubenon Public Safety in sweeping the building, finding no credible threat – only one scared kid in a Star Wars mask.
Their was no actual threat at the high school a student came to school wearing a Star Wars costume with a mask.
— Ash Public Safety (@AshPublicSafety) May 4, 2017
Ashwaubenon Public Safety made a statement on their Facebook page following the event Thursday, commending the parent who called in the ‘threat’.
“So when you see something like this, an unknown person walking into a school with a mask on, we have to react to that. We’d be foolish not to,” said Capt. Jody Crocker, Ashwaubenon Public Safety.
Addressing the school’s no-costume policy, Ashwaubenon High School Principal Brian Nelsen said, “We’ll be meeting with the students to re-emphasize that we have to keep each other safe and we can’t make poor choices like this.”
But parents and residents of this small community in the shadows of Lambeau Field are split on their reactions to the parent’s 911 call:
John Lardinois This parent needs to be publicly shamed. Absolutely ridiculous. How prissy are you that you think a Darth Vader costume is body armor? Way to traumatize a kid away from ever publicly displaying affection for his interests. The kid will be too afraid to express passion for something ever again.
Tammy Ferron First of all . The school has a dress code and costumes are not allowed . So if the caller suspected there was something strange then they did the right thing. So let’s say if the situation was really a shooting and the parent did not report a possible issue (the ones that felt the caller over reacted) would of been complaining that they didn’t report it. Can’t have it both ways. I would rather someone report something and have a false alarm then not reporting it at all .
Bob Marcik Wow. A Storm Trooper Mask from Star Wars, Does this town live in the dark ages? Do they not know whats going on in the world around them? It was ‘the 4 th be with you day. C’mon good people of Ashwaubenon. Thank God he didn’t have a blaster as well. It would have been SWAT teams and tanks.
Brenda Mikkelson Herold Proud of Ashwaubenon Public Safety and proud of our district and how it was handled. Thanks for keeping our kids safe and for communicating the events in a timely manner.
Randy Cheske Fine the idiot who has no common sense to call the police for a kid wearing a Star Wars costume.
I guess the real question is, was it a Darth Vader or Storm Trooper costume? Racial profiling is never okay.
What say you? Did the parent overreact by calling authorities or should we be ‘better safe than sorry’ when it comes to our children?
Join the conversation as a VIP Member