Police have arrested five high school students in southern Arizona who are accused of making a detailed plot to murder a classmate off campus, authorities said on Thursday.
The five students, one adult and four juveniles, were booked into Pima County Jail on Wednesday on charges of suspicion of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in connection with the alleged scheme at Flowing Wells High School in Tucson.
All five were taken into custody at the school, said a spokesman for the Tucson Police Department, Sergeant Pete Dugan.
"We were right at the point where we believe that something definitely was about to happen," Dugan said. "Thankfully someone stepped forward and did the right thing and told administrative staff what was going on."
Police named the adult student as Christopher Gibson, 18, and the four juveniles as two 17-year-old girls, Anastasia Lakin and Jessica Good, and two 15-year-old boys, Gabriel Quiroga and Andrew Totten.
Detectives from the department's special investigations division were called to the campus after a student tipped off a school staff member to the alleged plot, Dugan said.
He said an investigation that included multiple interviews revealed the five students had spent a week planning the murder of a fellow student who was causing unspecified problems.
The plan continued to progress with each meeting, Dugan said, with the students laying out the steps to be taken during the murder attempt.
One of the five students brought a knife to school as part of the alleged plan, but was caught with the weapon by school administrators, the spokesman said.
In a letter to parents on Thursday, the head of the school district said the situation was "unnerving and shocking" to the whole community.
"We are so grateful to those who had the courage to speak out when they knew something was wrong," wrote David Baker, superintendent of Flowing Wells Schools.
He said counselors and staff members will be available at the school for students.
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