Original Article ss video mistaken for carjacking By Mike Sakal, Tribune January 19, 2006 A group of Desert Mountain High School students who simulated a carjacking using pellet guns including one that looked like an M-16 assault rifle found themselves staring into the muzzles of real guns when police showed up. The Scottsdale students were brandishing the guns for a criminology class video project. But a motorist driving past the scene in a parking garage Monday had no idea he wasnt witnessing a crime, police said. The man, who was not identified by police, was passing the Desert Mountain Schools Credit Union at 8700 Northsight Blvd. about 1:25 p.m. when he saw the incident and called 911, said Scottsdale Sgt. Mark Clark. Eight Scottsdale officers responded to what they believed was a carjacking involving a Jaguar convertible, and ended the students production, Clark said. After we found out what was going on, we stopped the students at the scene and told them of the dangers of doing something like this, Clark said. People who see these things think its very serious because these things really happen. Simulation of a felony was an assignment given the students in a class taught by David Mietzner. The assignment was unsupervised and Mietzner wasnt present when the students were surrounded by police, said Desert Mountain principal Greg Milbrandt. Police said at least two students were using Airsoft guns, a brand name for a type of hard pellet or paintball gun. Desert Mountain seniors T.J. Verdone and Wes Neal were among the students acting for the video, Mietzner said. Mietzner said police did the right thing, but thought the incident was being blown out of proportion and described the Airsoft guns as toy guns. School administrators werent reprimanding him or the students, Mietzner said. Clark said no students were charged in the incident. Mietzner said he has taught the class twice a year for the last four years and the students cover such topics as President John F. Kennedys assassination, the O.J. Simpson trial, Arizona criminal codes, or things teenagers commonly would get in trouble for. Then, at the end of the semester, the students are required to do a video project that involves a crime, he said. Police did their job and they did the right thing, Mietzner said. When the kids do these projects, they are instructed not to do anything illegal and to stay out of sight. Milbrandt said he believed police did the right thing and that the situation wasnt potentially dangerous. The biggest thing is that students are encouraged by the instructor to do these things in a private location where they wont be caught, Milbrandt said. We have to make sure we instruct our students to conduct these things where it wont cause unnecessary alarm. Contact Mike Sakal by telephone at (480) 970-2324.