Police in Utah have arrested a 15-year-old who was “potentially planning to carry out an attack” at Weber High School, according to court documents obtained by local news station KSL.com.
On September 23, the FBI alerted Weber County sheriff’s deputies of a series of messages on an Instagram account "containing terroristic threats including the act of committing a mass school shooting," that allegedly belonged to a 15-year-old girl in Weber County, according to search warrant affidavits obtained by KSL.com.
These messages "referenced acquiring firearms, and described the act that she was about to perform 'Like Columbine,' referring to the infamous terrorist event which occurred at Columbine High School,” and reportedly stated an intent to shoot multiple people. The suspect, who has not been named, reportedly admitted to sending the messages after police went to her home, where they seized her phone in order to conduct a search.
The investigating deputy wrote in the affidavit that "on the device I saw a Google search containing photos of surveillance footage of a school shooter.” In addition, police found text messages in which the suspect spoke of a plan to "'shoot up' Weber," and said "this shooting will be her way to 'make my mark on society.'"
On a diary app, police located messages "which documented her decisions such as pros and cons of potential co-conspirators and the following statement: 'I need guns. And I need bullets. And I need alcohol. And I need bombs ... And I need to kill all of these (people).'"
Weber County Sheriff's Lt. Cortney Ryan said on Tuesday that although some of the messages referenced napalm, officers did not find any in the suspect’s house, though they think she did have some at some point. The suspect was charged on September 30 in juvenile court with use of a weapon of mass destruction, which is a first-degree felony, and has been booked into juvenile detention.
Officials from Weber High School wrote in a note to parents about the incident that “the threat involved some planning on the part of the student, but there was never an imminent danger to the school or other students. Fortunately, early intervention and action by law enforcement foiled any potential acts of violence."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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