A Pierce County 13-year-old who was arrested for allegedly making threats posted images online holding several semi-automatic weapons and wrote 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.
KIRO 7 is not naming the teen because he is currently being charged as a juvenile.
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.
The teen was arrested on Sept. 6 around 1 a.m.
He was booked into Remann Hall Juvenile Detention Center for attempted threat to bomb or injure, three counts of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of fireworks.
“There is enough evidence to show that we have stopped something very serious from happening,” said Deputy Carly Cappetto with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office over the weekend.
It’s unclear if his parents will face charges.
The sheriff’s office said the juvenile was last enrolled in the Franklin Pierce School District in 2021 but is not currently enrolled in any school district.
The Franklin Pierce School District responded to KIRO 7 in a statement:
“This person was not currently enrolled in Franklin Pierce Schools, but did attend one of our schools prior to 2021. We continue to work with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office to ensure that this individual is not a threat to our schools or our community as a whole.
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