Legacy Traditional School – West Surprise in Surprise, Ariz. (Google Maps).
Police in Arizona say a group of fifth-grade girls plotted to murder a boy after luring him into a bathroom.
The shocking plan to stab their fellow student to death was concocted during lunch and recess in October 2024, according to police.
The killing was intended to occur at the Legacy Traditional School’s West Surprise campus in Surprise, a major city within Maricopa County and part of the larger Phoenix metropolitan area.
Due to their very young ages, the names of the alleged plotters are being withheld. The girls involved were aged between 10 and 11, as stated by the Surprise Police Department.
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According to a police report obtained this week by KTVK and local CBS affiliate KPHO, a Phoenix-based independent TV station known collectively as “Arizona’s Family,” each of the girls had a specific role to fulfill.
One girl was to provide the murder weapon, a knife; one was to forge a suicide note to make it seem like the boy killed himself; one was to stand guard as a lookout; and one was to deliver the blows, according to law enforcement.
“Just end him,” was the goal, according to the police report, apparently referencing the girls’ admissions. “K.I.L.L. him. Kill him.”
The alleged motive stemmed from a schoolyard romance that soured in the Arizona sun, after the boy is said to have “cheated” on one of the girls while they were “dating,” according to the police report.
After the breakup, the girls allegedly plotted permanent revenge.
“So, she apparently wants him dead,” the police report reads.
Authorities became apprised of the bloody scheme when other students allegedly overheard the girls and told their parents.
“[H]is daughter had overheard a conversation of a group of students planning to kill a student at school,” a Surprise police officer wrote in the report. “It was stated the plan was for the four students to lure [the boy] to the outside bathroom, located on the north side of the school building, in between the cafeteria and doors.”
The would-be slaying was detailed down to points of granularity: the girls allegedly intended to stab the boy in the side of his stomach, and the knife-wielding girl was to wear gloves while she struck “to not leave their fingerprints on the knife,” the police report alleges.
The plot, however, quickly unraveled.
The day after the plan was overheard, the girls’ backpacks were searched and the children were individually interrogated with their parents present. Each of the girls were arrested within the week and charged with misdemeanor counts of threatening and disorderly conduct, according to the police report.
Police say three of the girls were repentant – expressing some measure of remorse for their actions. One of the girls, on the other hand, was allegedly amused by the incident. She smiled, laughed, and made excuses, according to law enforcement.
It is unclear why the report for the alleged incident — which occurred several months ago — was only recently released.
When asked by the TV station for any updates on the case, a spokesperson said the police department “has not shared and does not plan to share any further details about this incident.”
