•A student at a Massachusetts middle school became the subject of a police investigation after administrators discovered a notebook referencing the “Death Note” series, according to a report by Virginia for IGN.
The incident occurred at Chocksett Middle School in Sterling, where staff found the notebook around 4pm on September 30, after students had already gone home. Police and school officials interviewed the notebook’s owner and other students before concluding that the item did not represent a genuine threat.
The Death Note — which reportedly contained a few names of its owner’s classmates — is connected to an anime television series and was “not intended as a threat,” principal Tina Boss wrote in a letter to the school community. She added there was “no indication that the notebook or its contents were intended as a threat toward the school or any particular student.”
The student was suspended for three days despite officials reaching their conclusion.
Based on the information available at this time, the Sterling Police Department is not seeking criminal charges in connection with this incident.
Sterling Police Department
Police maintained a presence on school grounds Tuesday, October 6, with officials saying they “will maintain a presence as it sees appropriate,” as reported by local news outlet Boston.com.
A Death Note, in the anime of the same name, is a supernatural notebook owned by gods of death called ‘shinigami.’ If someone writes the name of another person in the notebook, they will die. There are a few other rules, but that’s basically the gist of it.
Death Notes are often sold as merchandise for fans of the anime and manga series as basic notebooks with the ‘Death Note’ lettering on the front cover — but given the state of things in the United States over the last decade, it makes sense why parents and school administrators would be concerned for students’ safety after finding such a notebook. A mother of one of the children whose name was written in this particular Death Note expressed frustration with how the situation was handled on social media.
A student who created a kill list with our daughter’s name on it is being allowed to return after just a three-day suspension… to the same classroom, within feet of her every day! Yes, a safety plan is in place. But how does that plan give my daughter peace of mind when she still has to sit in the same classroom as the student who put her name on that list? She deserves to feel safe in her classroom, every single day.
Facebook post
This isn’t the first time a student’s Death Note notebook has prompted such a reaction after being discovered at school. In September 2024, teachers at an I Promise school in Akron, Ohio were alerted after a student’s homemade ‘Death Note’ written on sheets of loose leaf paper was found. Although nothing came of the situation, parents of students whose names were written in the notebook similarly expressed dissatisfaction at how things were handled.
A Death Note is a supernatural notebook owned by gods of death called ‘shinigami.’ If someone writes the name of another person in the notebook, they will die. There are a few other rules, but that’s basically the gist of it.
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s Wiadomości Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.
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