Primrose school pupil had WhatsApp group to ‘plan attack’ on three teachers ‘for a while’

A 13-year-old boy arrested in connection with the shooting of a Germiston primary school principal allegedly planned to attack two other teachers at the school and wanted to shoot his ultimate target, the headmaster, in the head.

These are some of the chilling details that emerged days after a shooting incident at Primrose Primary School.

The grade 6 pupil was arrested and faces an attempted murder charge after he allegedly shot the 51-year-old principal on Friday.

Gauteng education MEC Matome Chiloane visited the school on Monday and addressed the traumatised pupils during assembly, urging them to “respect” their teachers.

“I'm here to tell you you are safe in school. Primrose Primary is a safe school. I'm going to do everything to ensure you are safe. Here you play, learn and develop,” he said.

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Chiloane also had a short meeting with the school's staff, where he was given details about what allegedly happened.

There were police officers and social workers present during Chiloane's visit, with the latter on hand to offer counselling to traumatised pupils and teachers.

Despite Friday's incident, security remained lax at the entrance to the school as visitors were easily granted access by security personnel.

Providing details about what happened, Chiloane revealed: “Details go as far as that the child was [allegedly] intending to shoot about three teachers. He targeted his class teacher, deputy principal and principal because these are the three people [who were] giving him problems in school.

“We are interviewing his friends and they claim this has been planned for a while. Apparently, they had a WhatsApp group where they were [allegedly] communicating and planning this gruesome event so no one could've picked it up.”

The boy allegedly planned to shoot the principal once on his body and then “go to the head”, according to the department.

Three shots were fired by the boy, but only one hit the principal.

Chiloane said the pupil allegedly targeted the trio because they were the ones he believed alerted his father to his performance at school. The father would apparently  punish the child.

He would not elaborate on the form of punishment the child was subjected to.

On Friday, the boy's parent was supposed to go to the school after the shooting but did not do so as the pupil failed to alert him for fear of reprisal.

Chiloane confirmed the boy's appearance in the Germiston magistrate's court on Monday and said his father had been arrested in connection with the incident.

This was confirmed by Gauteng police spokesperson Col Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi, who said the father has been charged “with negligent safe keeping of a firearm”.

Chiloane said the school itself was safe and police had reported no incidents at the facility.

He said the nearest police station is about 500m from the school.

“They've said this  is a good school. They've never had problems except burglaries, vandalism or theft after hours.”

The school has armed response and Chiloane said the department would put in interim safety measures for the next few months “until we feel the situation has stabilised”.

“But we don't want to make these [too much] because these are very young children. You can imagine searching a grade R pupil. It can be a traumatic experience. We have to be sensitive when we deal with children at this age. 

“We'll find some way to ensure we bring them comfort and that the school is safe,” he said.

Primrose was not among the 225 high-risk schools identified by the department, Chiloane said, but he stressed that along with reviewing safety there, the department would relook at the kind of training given to teachers in terms of safety. 

“Teachers are not law enforcers. They're not trained for physical altercations. They are trained to teach. That's why it's important for us to invest in the safety of the school.”

The MEC provided an update on the principal's condition, saying he was in an intensive care unit and was in shock at what happened.

Chiloane is expected to visit him and said he had spoken to him on Friday after he was stabilised. 

“Obviously he's in shock. We don't know if he's going to return to education. It's going to be a long healing process.

On whether the child can return to the school once his case is finalised, Chiloane said: “In most cases the kids are moved to different schools, but the schools must accept them. There's a possibility the child can be kept out of the system for a while.”

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