One day before 17-year-old Nikolas Cruz walked into Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and killed 17 people, an 18-year-old student in Everett, Washington was arrested after his grandmother found plans for a school shooting in his journal. According to the Seattle Times, the grandmother called 911 and relayed what authorities later described as “upcoming and credible threats” to ACES High School. The teenager was subsequently “arrested on investigation of attempted murder.”
According to the journal in question, excerpts of which were released to the Times and other press outlets, the suspect’s rationale and planning are as meticulous as they are horrifying:
“I’m preparing myself for the school shooting. I can’t wait. My aim has gotten much more accurate…” the teen allegedly wrote in his journal. “I’ve been thinking a lot… I need to make this shooting/bombing at Kamiak [High School] infamous. I need to get the biggest fatality number I possibly can. I need to make this count. I’ve been reviewing many mass shootings/bombings (and attempted bombings. I’m learning from past shooters/bombers mistakes, so I don’t make the same ones.”
The suspect also wrote about how he couldn’t decide whether to target his former high school, Kamiak, or his current one, ACES. He apparently settled on ACES since it “won… a coin toss.” Aside from the journal, investigators also found evidence of weapons stockpiling in the teenager’s home, as well as indications that he had been involved in a recent armed robbery at a local convenience store.
Mukilteo School District spokesperson Andy Muntz told the paper, “We are really grateful to the grandmother. It couldn’t have been easy for her to do.” Adding that neither the grandmother nor the teenager had been (or would be) named, Muntz said, “It speaks to the importance of the saying, ‘if you hear something or see something, call authorities,’ and that’s what she did. It’s quite possible she saved many lives including her grandson’s.”
(Via Seattle Times)