Teenagers Mimic Terrorists

MS 202 Suspends Pair for YouTube Video

By Patricia Adams

Concerned parents describe themselves as both fearful and uneasy about what they say is not the behavior of “normal” teenagers. The parents were alarmed when they learned that at least four of the students at MS 202, all 13-year-old males of Middle Eastern decent, had produced and acted in videos mimicking the acts of terrorists and a range of violent, criminal activity.

Eleven separate videos credited to one of the students appear on YouTube.com. The videos are extremely graphic in nature, depicting violent criminal acts including drug deals gone wrong, car jacking, a surprise ambush and several on kidnapping and ransom. They were posted as far back as 7 months ago and in combination, have been viewed almost 6,000 times.

Of particular concern was one video entitled Ozone Park Ransom, in which one of the students, wearing a traditional Muslim prayer hat known as a Kufie, is seen holding a knife to the throat of another teen who is kneeling on the floor in front of him. The boy on the floor has been blindfolded with what appears to be white gauze. The video is eerily reminiscent of video in which Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street journalist, was beheaded by his captors after being kidnapped in 2002.

In the video, the student is identified in the video credits as IPU, demands 10 million dollars for the return of his “prisoner” played by ABZ. With a ghoulish grin the teenager repeatedly passes what appears to be a real knife across the throat of his “prisoner” and repeats his demands for money and threats of death over and over. The video ends with a chilling scream from the exhilarated “captor,” as he proclaims the name of Allah.

School administrators who notified the 106th pct. said that parents had reported concerns over the videos, bringing officers to the school. The videos were viewed by police authorities, and according to inside sources, were deemed to be of a distasteful nature, however, non-criminal. Parents who were present at the school were all advised of the serious nature of the situation and it was explained that the school would administer any disciplinary action.

Administrators at the school were thoroughly cooperative concerning inquiries made over the students involved. Principal William Fitzgerald told The Forum that, “two students acted inappropriately and they have been suspended.”

One parent said that despite the seriousness of the situation, it was important that the school community remain separated from the incidents having nothing to do with the school. “We can’t allow this deviate behavior to reflect how good this school is,” said the mother of two students at MS 202 who asked not to be named.

Attempts to contact the parents of the suspended students were unsuccessful as of press time.

A video posted on YouTube shows two local teens reinacting a hostage ransom video, which resembles a 2003 video of the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl.