Crimes starts young

First Grader in $1 Robbery May Face Expulsion

MIAMI — A first-grade boy who took a table knife to his Pembroke Pines elementary school and used it to rob a classmate of $1 in lunch money faces possible expulsion and charges of armed robbery, officials said Wednesday.

“We have seen more incidents where students are bringing items that they shouldn’t bring to school,” a Broward County schools spokesman, Keith Bromery, said. “We’re not sure exactly why that’s happening.”

In the last month, an 8-year-old boy took a gun to his elementary school classroom in Fort Lauderdale, and a sophomore at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale was charged in the shooting death of a classmate in a school corridor.

In Pembroke Pines, the 7-year-old first grader approached a 6-year-old in the restroom of Pines Lakes Elementary School last week, threatened him with the knife and took his dollar, the police said. Mr. Bromery described the knife as having a rounded point, the kind that goes with a place setting.

The 6-year-old suffered a nosebleed during the encounter, but it was not clear whether the knife’s blade drew the blood. His mother reported the incident to school officials on Monday, and they summoned the Pembroke Pines police, who were investigating. They will send their findings to the state attorney’s office for review before any charges are filed.

“There’s some difficulty in this case because you first have to determine if the child knew what he was doing,” a police spokesman, David Golt, said.

If expelled, the boy would be sent to an alternative school where he would receive counseling and treatment, with the possibility of returning to Pines Lakes after an evaluation. Alternative schools, known as educational centers, are part of the Broward County school system and are for children with behavioral problems.