TACOMA, Wash. — The teen boy arrested over concerns that he was planning a mass shooting has been released to the custody of his parents.
In early September, a 13-year-old was arrested for allegedly making threats, posting concerning images online of him holding several semi-automatic weapons and writing captions idolizing previous school shooters, according to court documents.
On Sept. 4, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office received a bulletin from the National Sheriff’s Association that was titled: “High Risk Activity Brief: Teenager Likely Located in Washington Has Interest In Mass Shootings, Access to Guns.”
According to the brief, the teen had posted several images of him holding semi-automatic weapons on social media. Most of the photos had troubling captions like “U’d never expect it” and one that translated from Latin to “day of wrath,” court documents said.
Many of the photos of the weapons were taken with an open safe in the background, which appeared to have been taken in his parents’ bedroom, court docs said.
Court documents said that several of his posts had him wearing outfits that paid homage to previous school shooters, particularly one of the Columbine killers.
“when i turn 21 iam [sic] going to kill people.” “its over! my time is almost hear! f** you all!! Muahahaha I hope I kill you all,” an abbrevation of the posts said, according to court documents.
In a post on Tumblr, he allegedly said: “if i was brain dead and I did ”it," i can confidently say Columbiner girls would find be extremely attractive due to my 20 inch forehead."
KIRO 7 has written the texts as they were depicted in the court documents.
Many of the teen’s posts showed fascination of recent school shootings and mass casualty attacks across the country, court documents said.
When deputies searched the teen’s home, they found both secured and unsecured handguns and semi-automatic weapons, according to court documents.
Deputies also found a “go bag” with ammo and several fireworks, smoke grenades and bottle rockets, and several ammo magazines in his bedroom, court documents detail.
Investigators spoke with his parents while SWAT raided the home. His mother said she knew her son used fireworks in the past and made his own. She recalled hearing “crackling” sounds, court documents said.
According to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, it’s unclear if the teen was planning on targeting a school, the Washington State Fair, or some other public event.
On Sept. 29, his defense requested a detention review between his scheduled hearings.
Because of that, a judge granted the defense’s motion to release the teen on electronic home monitoring. The teen must stay at home and maintain contact with his probation officer.
The court urged his mother to make a mental health appointment for her son as a part of his safety plan.
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