Riley Grunden (left) defended her 13-year-old son (right) after he allegedly shared an image of Dr Pepper cans arranged like an assault rifle (center) (Pictures: KY3)
A middle school student was suspended after posting a photo of Dr Pepper cans arranged in the shape of an assault rifle.
The 13-year-old boy’s mother, Riley Grunden, is standing strongly by her son.
‘I am very mad,’ Grunden told KY3. ‘I feel like kids can’t be kids anymore.’
The Liberty Middle School student is accused of stacking more than a half-dozen soda cans to make them look like an AK-47 rifle.
The 13-year-old boy allegedly posted a photo of Dr Pepper cans shaped like an AK-47 rifle (Picture: KY3)
A picture of his creation posted online showed several of the burgundy-colored cans in a straight line and two others placed to possibly mimic the pistol grip and magazine.
Officials at the school in Mountain View, Missouri, made the boy turn himself in to the district’s central office last Tuesday as concerns emerged over the post, Grunden said.
‘When I went to the central office I was there to defend my son because I feel like he did nothing wrong,’ the mother said.
‘Dr Pepper cans this is a threat?’
The boy was suspended for three days from Liberty Middle School in Mountain View, Missouri (Picture: KY3)
The boy, who has not been identified, was suspended for three days and has been subject to searches on campus.
Grunden argued that her son did not make direct threats to any students, the school or district.
If that were the case, ‘he would be in a lot of trouble not just at school but at home’, she claimed.
The boy was suspended from school for three days (Picture: KY3)
The Mountain View Birch Tree R-III School District in a letter to families shared on Facebook pleaded for ‘help and support’ following the incident.
‘Some social media posts can cause stress on our students, families, and staff. Social media can also disrupt the learning environment,’ it read.
‘We ask that you talk to your child about the seriousness of making a threat or posting anything of a threatening nature (images of weapons, violent song lyrics, violet videos, etc.)’
Riley Grunden insisted that her son did nothing wrong (Picture: KY3)
The district warned that threats against a school or student have ‘serious legal and disciplinary consequences’.
‘Posts of this nature are not funny or entertaining and will not be considered a joke or form of entertainment,’ stated the letter.
The boy was disciplined a day after an 11-year-old boy attending Creekside Middle School in Florida was arrested and perp walked for allegedly having a cache of weapons and threatening to shoot up two schools.
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