Students Suspended For Apparently Using Airsoft Guns At Home

On Tuesday two middle school boys were suspended until June for apparently shooting other students with airsoft guns outside one of the boys' homes.

Khalid Carabello and Aidan Clark are displeased with the consequences and claim their actions did not take place on school property, according to Virginia outlet WAVY-TV. The students were supposedly waiting for the school bus at the time of the incident, but they say they had been on Carabello’s nearby front lawn and were not yet at the bus stop.

According to a statement from Larkspur Middle School Principal Matthew D. Delaney, the school decided to look into the incident after being advised by Virginia Beach Police “that a passing motorist had seen a child with a gun chasing another child in the street near a Larkspur bus stop.” The statement explains that several students claimed to have been hit by pellets as they walked to the bus stop, and because of this, “the school division has jurisdiction to take disciplinary actions against those students responsible for the disruption.”

Carabello will be attending an alternative school for the rest of the year, while Clark will be home-schooled, according to WAVY-TV.

"My son is my private property," said Carabello’s mother to the outlet. "He does not become the school's property until he goes to the bus stop, gets on the bus, and goes to school."

The incident has gained attention on conservative blogs and social media.

“School officials believe they’re able to enforce their rules on the kid’s property. … Whatever happened to common sense?” wrote The Lonely Conservative blogger.

“ZERO-TOLERENCE requires ZERO BRAINS. Very stupid... what next, you gonna suspend them when they eat a homemade lunch that doesn't fit the Michelle Obama standards for school food [all sic]?” one Facebook user commented on the incident.

This is one of a handful of instances where students have been suspended from school for playing with fake guns or representations of fake guns. In May an 8-year-old elementary school student from Maryland was suspended after he chewed his pop tart into the shape of a gun.