SEATTLE (AP) — A 13-year-old boy who police said appeared to be fixated on school shooters was arrested on charges of unlawful firearms possession and making a threat after they say they found social media posts about intentions to kill and seized 23 guns and ammunition from his home.
The boy pleaded not guilty to a total of five charges, four of them felonies, in juvenile court on Monday, and he was ordered to remain in detention.
A SWAT team raided his home and arrested him around 1 a.m. Saturday in Washington’s Pierce County, south of Seattle. His mother told a Seattle TV station their son had no intention of harming anyone.
Tactical-style rifles were mounted on walls and handguns were found unsecured throughout the home. In the boy’s room — in a heavy backpack beneath a turtle habitat — were AR-style magazines with writing on them referencing mass shootings, including the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, according to a probable cause statement by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators said they also found “what appeared to be the face of a known mass shooter placed in a crude drawing,” and that in social media posts dating back to June he had displayed weapons and dressed in the attire of past school shooters. According to the probable cause statement, one post said, “when i turn 21 iam going to kill people,” and another said, “its over! my time is almost hear!”
An investigation into his parents continues, sheriff’s Deputy Carly Cappetto said in an email Tuesday.
“We are still conducting interviews, and it will ultimately be up to the prosecutor to decide if they will charge parents for improper storage and safekeeping of firearms or other crimes they feel is fitting,” she wrote in an email Tuesday.
The Associated Press does not generally identify juveniles facing criminal charges. The boy’s charges include making a threat to bomb or injure property, unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of fireworks.
Under Washington law, those under 18 are barred from possessing firearms except in certain circumstances, including hunting, firearms safety courses and shooting competitions. Unsafe storage of a firearm is also a crime, which applies when a person barred from having guns accesses one and uses it in a shooting or during the commission of a crime, or displays the firearm in a public place in a way that is intended to intimidate or cause alarm for the safety of others.
“It appeared the suspect had everything ready to go to commit a mass shooting type of incident,” Cappetto said. “It is unknown who or what the intended target was going to be, but it’s clear it was a matter of time before a tragic incident occurred.”
The boy’s mother, who attended the court hearing, suggested in an interview afterward that the social media posts were an attempt to “be cool” among peers, KOMO-TV reported.
Cappetto said the boy was last enrolled in the Franklin Pierce School District in 2021. He was being homeschooled at the time of his arrest, according to the probable cause statement.
The court scheduled a pretrial conference for Sept. 17 and a detention review for Sept. 22, the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office said in an email.
McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire.
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