STORM2K

Police Say 12-Year-Old Planned School Attack But Friends Wouldn't Help

POSTED: 2:57 p.m. EDT June 11, 2003

WELLSBORO, Pa. -- Police say a Pennsylvania fifth-grader who killed himself at school last week had a bagful of guns -- and planned to use them to take over the school.

The plot was apparently foiled when his friends backed out. Instead, they alerted authorities, who locked down the school.

Police say officers were approaching the school bathroom when a shot rang out. The boy died from a single gunshot wound.


The boy had smuggled in three rifles, two shotguns and two handguns taken from his father's gun cabinet. The school has no metal detectors, and students were allowed to bring large bags that day for a school trip.

Police say the boy had talked for months about "taking over the school," but his friends didn't take him seriously.

This is another case of depression in the family, IMO. Why would you want to take over the school? It boggles my mind that someone would want to do such a thing, but atleast only 1 life was killed, instead of the kind of disaster that happened at Columbine in '99. The reason why I said "atleast", is because he obviously didn't want to live life out to the fullest, he put it on himself. It's sad to lose someone because of this, but if you looked close enough, I bet parents would be the reason(depression).

This is not merely tragic, but all the more so in that it could have been averted EASILY.

The Kabbalah says that "When one person dies, a whole universe dies with him"...his friends must have had SOME advance notice of his intentions...and, as mentioned, where were his parents?

I have no words for the anger I feel over this.