All 11 Syracuse high schoolers threatened with kidnapping charges in last week’s “hazing on steroids” incident have turned themselves in, officials announced Wednesday.
The students surrendered to authorities less than 24 hours after Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick announced that anyone involved in the incident had 48 hours to turn themselves in and face the crime of unlawful imprisonment, a misdemeanor.
Those who didn’t would be prosecuted as adults and charged with the “very, very serious felony of kidnapping.”
On Wednesday, the district attorney’s office confirmed to ABC affiliate WSYR that the 11 students, all members of the Westhill High School boys’ lacrosse team, had surrendered to local authorities.
Their identities have not been made public because of their ages.
Non-juvenile students will be arraigned, while the juvenile suspects will go “straight to family court,” First Chief Assistant District Attorney Joseph Coolican said, according to CNN.
Officials have identified at least five potential victims in the April 24 incident, which, according to Fitzpatrick, went “far beyond hazing — far beyond simply doing something stupid.”
That includes one younger student who was taken to a remote area where he was met by a group of individuals “armed with what appeared to be at least one handgun and one knife.”
The victim, whose head was covered with a pillowcase, was then tied up and placed in the trunk of a car, Fitzpatrick said.
On Tuesday, the Westhill Central School District announced the cancellation of the remainder of the Westhill High School varsity boys’ lacrosse season — a decision Superintendent Steve Dunham said was “incredibly difficult” to make.
“Hazing is an indefensible act. It can be humiliating and degrading, potentially causing physical and emotional harm,” Dunham said. “Westhill Central School District policy strictly prohibits hazing, in all forms, and it’s something we simply will not tolerate.”
