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May 4, 2007 8:20 am US/Eastern
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Student Calls For Teacher's Murder On YouTube
Teen Posts Teacher's Name, Address After Failing Test
by Ti-Hua Chang
STATEN ISLAND (CBS) ―
A high school student from Staten Island has been arrested after posting a video on the Internet asking someone to shoot his math teacher.
After spending the night in jail and being arraigned on aggravated harassment charges, 16-year-old Matthew Pacelli was in no mood to talk to CBS 2. "Get that s--- out of my face," he said, pushing a microphone away from him as CBS 2 tried to interview him.
Pacelli, who attends Port Richmond High School, was taken into police custody when he posted a video on YouTube apparently asking for someone to shoot his math teacher in the neck because he failed a test. On the video, Pacelli allegedly gave out his teacher's name and home address and urged viewers: "When you see her, shoot her in the neck."
Pacelli's lawyer said the student had no previous record and was not a monster. "He's very sorry about this whole thing, but that's no admission of guilt," said Robert DuPont, his attorney. "He means the teacher no harm."
At school, students say Pacelli is a loner, and even compare him to the shooter in the Virginia Tech massacre.
"He would write suicidal notes himself saying that he wants to kill everybody, kill himself, kill the world and everything," Port Richmond student Michelle Mafaro told CBS 2. "He was like crazy in the head."
But others didn't take Pacelli's threats to heart. "He used to joke a lot, but he probably wasn't serious," said another classmate, Deanna Woehrle.
Andrew Greenfield, head of security at the school, filed the complaint against Pacelli. Teachers said, however, that the threatened teacher -- Penny Batsis -- was not afraid.
Pacelli was suspended from school for a week and his mother, who is divorced, had to post $1,500 bond to get her son out of jail. If found guilty on the charge of aggravated harassment, Pacelli faces up to a year behind bars.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)