An 18-year-old is facing criminal charges after allegedly taking a selfie with a fake rifle outside her former high school.
Police say Ericka Rodriguez posed with an imitation rifle in front of Hauppauge High School in Suffolk County, Long Island in New York on Tuesday (June 17), prompting the school to go into lockout.
Rodriguez allegedly photographed herself in front of Hauppauge High School around 11:20 a.m. that day posing “with a spring-loaded imitation rifle,” according to the Suffolk County Police Department.
Local news outlets report that the district security team at Hauppauge High School was alerted around 11.25 a.m. to the selfie of Rodriguez holding what turned out to be a spring-loaded imitation rifle.
In a message obtained by PEOPLE from Dr. Donald B. Murphy, Superintendent of Schools at Hauppauge Public Schools, tells parents that a “911 report made to the Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD) regarding an individual on the sidewalk along Lincoln Boulevard, near Veterans Memorial Highway. The individual was reported to be carrying an object that appeared to be a firearm.”
The school was subsequently placed on lockout. In the same message to parents, Dr. Murphy says the middle school was also placed into a lockout “out of an abundance of caution” and “all exterior doors to the buildings were securely locked, and no one was allowed to enter or exit the buildings.”
The lockout at Hauppauge High School was lifted just over an hour later, and the object in the selfie was determined to be a Gel Launcher, or a toy gun, which “closely resembled a firearm,” Dr. Murphy says in his message to parents.
Rodriguez was charged with unlawful possession of a weapon on school grounds and endangering the welfare of a child. She was issued a desk appearance ticket and is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip, Long Island at a later date.
Last year, a man was sentenced to jail for taking a hospital selfie with a dying stranger in hospital. Bubba Pollock from Ontario, Canada was sentenced to 60 days in prison and a 12-month ban from social media for criminal harassment for taking the selfie.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
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