Authorities in Arizona say a group of fifth-grade girls devised a chilling plan to lure a fellow student into a bathroom and stab him to death — all because of a falling-out over a school romance.
According to the Surprise Police Department, the plot was formed during lunch and recess in October 2024 at Legacy Traditional School’s West Surprise campus, located in the Phoenix suburb of Surprise, Maricopa County.
The girls, aged 10 and 11, are not being named due to their age. Each allegedly had a specific role in the murder plan: one was assigned to bring a knife, another to act as a lookout, a third to write a fake suicide note to cover up the killing, and one to carry out the stabbing. According to the police report, their goal was simply: “Just end him. K.I.L.L. him.”
The motive? Investigators say the girls plotted the attack after one of them became upset when the boy “cheated” on her during what police described as a brief elementary school relationship. The group allegedly decided that he should die in retaliation.
The plan unraveled quickly after other students overheard the conversation and alerted their parents. One parent reported to police that his daughter heard the girls planning to lure the boy to an outdoor bathroom near the cafeteria to carry out the attack.
The police report describes an elaborate plan, including the use of gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints on the knife and targeting the boy’s abdomen.
The day after the plot was reported, school officials and police searched the girls’ backpacks and interviewed each of them with their parents present. All four were arrested within the week and charged with misdemeanor counts of threatening and disorderly conduct.
According to investigators, three of the girls expressed remorse. One, however, allegedly laughed during questioning and showed little concern for the severity of the accusations.
The incident, which took place months ago, came to light only recently when a police report was obtained by local news outlets. When asked for further updates, a spokesperson for the Surprise Police Department said no additional details would be released at this time.
