Attempted Deer Break-in Excites Students, Leaves Mess

By Brian Dunne, Liz Lawrence and Cree Bleacher –

There was an attempted break-in at Penn Manor High School Friday but there was no question about the suspect.  It was a deer.

At approximately 11.a.m. Friday, a frightened and apparently injured whitetail deer tried to break into Penn Manor High School by bashing into the windows of Spanish teacher William Zapata’s and several other classrooms in the language wing.

Shortly thereafter, administrators told teachers to keep their students in their homerooms until further notice.


 

The deer went missing while school administrators searched throughout the school campus.

“We’re still looking for it,” said School Resource Officer Jason Hottenstein, who circled the grounds.

Officer Jason Hottenstein searching for the deer. Photo by Brian Dunne

Many students in the classrooms were reportedly startled.

Zapata, a teacher in the Spanish department, hurried over to the window, thinking that the loud noise that hit the window and left a red smear was a paintball.

“We were sitting here doing work.  We heard a thud. I looked up and saw red smeared across the window. [The deer] looked like it was lost,” said Zapata. “An eight-pointer white tail deer.”

“We were standing by the windows, and the deer slammed against the window while we were filming. I moved, I mean it scared me,” said Zapata.

The aftermath of the deer hitting the window of a classroom. Photo by Brian Dunne

“We all jumped and saw this big blot of blood come and hit the window,” said Cheyenne Miller, a freshman that was in Zapata’s room at the time.

The damage didn’t stop there. Jill Wiedmaier, a Penn Manor FCS teacher was floored when she found out that her car was rammed by the deer while parked.

But Wiedmaier was able to take the incident in stride.

“Ironically enough if I was actually in my spot it would have hit Todd Mealy’s car, but since a student decided to park in my spot today I had to park in front of them, and then Todd in front of me,” Wiedmaier said.   “At least I have a funny story to keep in my “Penn Manor Days”  book.  Who else can say that not only was there a crazy deer running around into the walls and windows of their school, but they were lucky enough to have the deer hit their car.  Guess I better play the lottery today!”

Wieidmaier's car after getting hit by the deer. Photo by Rob Henry

Nobody could believe that this was actually happening.

“I told Mr. Dell’Estate and he thought I was joking,” said Zapapta.

“How’s that for Halloween?” said one student as a class piled into the nearby hallwa

y.

Many were left uninformed about what was going on as administration officials blocked the hallway where the incident occurred.

“I heard a deer was trying to get into a classroom through a window (from another student),” said Trevor Troup.

 

4 thoughts on “Attempted Deer Break-in Excites Students, Leaves Mess”

  1. Thanks to the 8 point buck’s help, my car is now ready for Halloween:) Thanks to the student who was parked in my spot this morning, I think you should help me out with my deductible!

  2. Where is Ricky Stetler when you need him? I think an interview is in order. Great coverage, Penn Points!

  3. Dear pennpoints, due to the deers breeding season, known as the rut, the deer was actually trying to fight its reflection in the glass because it thought it was fighting another buck for breeding rights in the territory.

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