SALISBURY, Md. – The Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate a racist and threatening video post made by a student in Wicomico County.
The brief video, which caused uproar online before being taken down, shows a young teen boy holding what appears to be a scoped rifle. The teen also makes a remark about shooting black people, though the language he uses is stronger in nature. The Sheriff’s Office says it located the teen, who is a student at Parkside High School, and removed the gun from his possession, which turned out to be a pellet rifle.
A statement from Wicomico County Schools was released Wednesday saying, in part, “Please know that this video does not in any way reflect the feelings or teachings of the student’s school or of Wicomico County Public Schools…we are shocked and revolted by both the language and the visual content of this video.”
According to the Sheriff’s Office, the student, whose name is not being released because he is a juvenile, has been removed from school for the remainder of the school year.
Salisbury City Council member April Jackson has expressed outrage over the incident, calling the post hurtful and demanding more transparency. "It doesn't matter whether it was a pellet gun of not. He displayed racism and a hate crime,” Jackson said. "There's a double standard here because if this was one of our brown boys or brown young men, this would have been done a whole lot different."
The student’s mother, Tonya Laird Lewis, is a member of the Wicomico County Board of Education. She is currently seeking re-election. In a statement to WBOC, Lewis said “Right now, we are focusing on our son and following the policy and the protocols set forth by the sheriff's office and the Wicomico County public school system." Lewis told WBOC she has not made a decision on whether she will resign or step back from seeking re-election.
