Six Covington High School students can breathe a sigh of relief after the St. Tammany District Attorney’s Office decided not to pursue charges against them for an April 21 incident in which the students were filming a movie about a jewelry store robbery.

According to Joseph Candilora of Bush, the teenagers aren’t the only ones.

“I’m delighted,” said Candilora. “Now these kids can get on their way in life.” Candilora’s son Julian was one of the six arrested and charged with criminal mischief, disturbing the peace, contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile, obstruction of justice and false swearing. The young man is scheduled to begin basic training with the Army National Guard later this month, and had the charges held up, those plans, along with his signing bonus, would have been in jeopardy.

Rick Wood, spokesman for District Attorney Walter Reed, called to deliver the news personally.

The students were doing the film as a class project and had gotten permission to use Deluca’s Expressions in Gold, located on Collins Boulevard, for filming. However, a motorist driving by the store saw the students putting on flak jackets and carrying weapons and called 911.

Several Covington Police units responded, along with a SWAT team, before storeowner Janet Deluca rushed out to tell police it was just a movie.

Police were not amused, however, and arrested Deluca and the six students, one of whom was her son, Andrew. Police officers said the students had not notified them, nor had they applied for a permit to shoot the movie.

Reed’s office cited “insufficient evidence” and dropped all charges Tuesday.

Responding to criticism that his department may have overreacted, Capt. Jack West of the Covington Police said the tape of the 911 call speaks for itself.

“You can hear how frightened she was,” said West, whose office will soon release the audio recording, as well as the video the students shot that morning.

Portions of the video, called “The Heist,” have already aired on a local television station, and depicts a group donning ski masks and body armor in the parking lot, then toting some very real, albeit not loaded, weaponry into the store for the “robbery.”

The St. Tammany Parish School Board will review its policies and procedures on video projects this summer.

“We’ll look at how the syllabus is worded, how the teacher explains it to the students, that sort of thing,” said spokesperson Meredith Mendez. “Basically we will take a very close look to determine if we need to have more specific guidelines when they have these types of projects.”

Candilora, who has another child, a daughter, said he commends the district attorney’s office and hopes all the teenagers can put the episode behind them.

“We’ve always raised our kids to be good citizens,” he said. “I think now they can see that there is justice in the world.”