Shooting Threats Rattle Crofton Day Care Center

CROFTON, MD — Anne Arundel County Police continue to investigate a shooting threat made last month against a day care center at a church in Crofton that was likely a prank, according to a police spokesman. But at least one parent whose child uses the facility is concerned that day-care officials waited too long to inform parents after someone scrawled menacing graffiti and left a threatening sign in a women's bathroom at the Community United Methodist Church.

On March 20, police officers were called to the church after the graffiti was discovered in a handicapped stall in the women's bathroom. The graffiti "consisted of a drawing of male genitalia and a non-credible shooting threat," said Marc Limansky, a spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Police Department.

The police have not found "anyone with issues against the church or day care facility," Limansky said. Officers have been making periodic checks with the church to put people at ease, he added.

Soon after the incident, Monica McGirt, the director of the church's Child Development Center (CDC), said in a letter to parents that in light of recent school shootings, "we are taking no chances and a police report has been filed."

Staff members at the day care center washed the ink-pen graffiti off the wall immediately after it was discovered.

But a short time later, another staff member found a laminated sign left in the same stall with "profane artwork and some additional wording that was threatening" to the CDC, McGirt said.

The sign may have been left by someone during the evening hours, when the day care center is closed. The police have analyzed the fingerprints on the sign, McGirt said.

They believe the incidents were some kind of prank, she said, but "are proceeding as if it is a real threat."

Contacted on Friday, a member of the CDC's advisory board declined to comment on the situation.

Staff members at the church have reviewed surveillance footage, spoken with outside groups who were using the church at the time of the incident, and getting a new security system operational, McGirt said. The church also is creating new policies regarding building usage by outside groups.

But one parent complained that the CDC failed to tell parents for two days about the graffiti and threats. In an anonymous letter sent to Patch, the parent said that the CDC and the church moved too slowly in changing access codes to the CDC building, and continued to allow outside groups to use the center's multipurpose room after the threat surfaced.

"The threat was found on a Tuesday and parents were not made aware of a handwritten note that said 'ill shoot up this daycare' until Thursday morning when going in to drop off their child for the day," the parent wrote.

In her letter, McGirt promised to keep parents informed of any new developments. "Please be assured that there has been no unsanctioned person in the CDC building during school hours, no attempt of anyone trying to break into the facility, no attempt to converse with or engage a child by someone unknown to us, nor any report from a child of any threat or uncomfortable situation," she said.

Image: Anne Arundel County Police Department