06/19/2007

School Stick-Up in Berlin

Hands Up! Give Me the Report Cards!

Masked boys were hired to hold up a Berlin classroom on Friday to steal, of all things, report cards.

If poor grades weren't bad enough, now a Berlin student has to contend with police after hiring two masked boys to hold up his classroom with a steel rod. According to police, the 10th grader organized the heist because he wanted his report card stolen to avoid flunking a grade.

Just before 10 a.m. last Friday, a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old entered the class at Dag-Hammarskjöld high school in Berlin and threatened the teacher with a steel rod, stealing her briefcase. The boy behind the incident, identified only as "Zacharia" by the Berlin daily Berliner Morgenpost, sat quietly in the back of the room as fellow students rushed to the aid of their 58-year-old teacher, causing the young robbers to drop the briefcase and flee. The teacher was shocked, but not injured.

The two robbers, who are not students at the school, were picked up by police in Berlin's Schöneberg district shortly after the hold-up. Mastermind Zacharia attempted to escape, but was arrested on the school steps after a brief struggle.

All three boys were released from police custody because they had previously clean records, but the crime will not go unpunished. Berliner Morgenpost reports that instead of attending class on Monday, Zacharia met with the school's principal, his parents, and the school psychologist. He has been suspended from school until summer vacation, and will be transferred to a different school next year.

"We must give a clear signal that we do not tolerate violence in our school," principal Rainer Hensen, told the newspaper. The three young men will face criminal charges once a police investigation has been completed.

The Morgenpost reports that students at the school are mystified by Friday's events. Some said that there is significant academic pressure on 10th graders at this time of year, but that report cards haven't been completed yet. Others said the crime was out of character for Zacharias, who is "totally nice and well-liked."

kla/reuters/ap/dpa

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