Friday morning the shark was taken down and taken away. The police suspect five students of the school of playing the ‘prank’. The surveillance footage has been given to the police by the school management, and will not be made public (for now), News4jax reports based on information from the St. Johns County School District.
The joke is probably not without consequences. According to a local lawyer, the person responsible could be charged with trespassing, nature violations and criminal mischief. A Florida fish and wildlife conservation commissioner confirms that the investigation is underway.
A student at the school, Julian Chandlee, tells News4Jax: “It’s pretty horrific. And it’s a pretty big shark.” It also hangs in a fairly central place, he emphasizes. It would be a senior year stunt.
Another student is particularly shocked by the enormous stench. “I was shocked. You don’t expect something like that in the morning.”
A biologist tells the website that it is a sandbar shark.