Police: Everett teen plotted high school shooting, wrote 'I can't wait'
EVERETT, Wash. - An Everett teen is under arrest Wednesday after police found evidence that he was in the advanced stages of plotting a shooting at his high school, writing in his journal that "I can't wait to ... to blow all those (expletive) away," court documents state.
The investigation into the 18-year-old ACES Alternative High School student began when his grandmother called 911 on Tuesday to report what she believed were credible threats by her grandson to shoot other students at the school, according to the court file.
Officers met with the grandmother at her home and were shown excerpts of the grandson’s journal, which the grandmother had discovered the previous night. The grandmother also told police she had discovered the teen had a semi-automatic rifle stored in a guitar case, court records state.
The officers were shown excerpts from the teen's journal that said, in part, "I'm preparing myself for the school shooting. I can't wait. My aim has gotten much more accurate. ... I can't wait to walk into that class and blow all those (expletive) away," police reports say.
The teen continued by writing, "I need to make this shooting/bombing ... infamous. I need to get the biggest fatality number I possibly can. I need to make this count. ... I'm learning from past shooters/bombers mistakes, so I don't make the same ones," according to the case file.
But Everett police told KOMO News they don’t know if the teen was actually going to carry out his plans.
"We don’t know what the end result may have been or may not have been, but I think that the steps that were taken were the appropriate steps," said Aaron Snell, Public Information Officer for the Everett Police Department.
The teen also wrote in the journal that he flipped a coin to decide which high school to target. ACES High School, in the 9700 block of Holly Drive, won the flip. The teen had also considered Kamiak High School, court documents state.
The grandmother told officers that the teen had recently purchased inert grenades and wrote in his journal about how to make them live with black powder. The grandson also wrote about making pressure cooker bombs and where and how he would places his explosives, the court file shows.
Alarmed by the statements in the journal and the detailed plans to shoot students and detonate explosives, officers contacted ACES High School to advise them of the threat and arrested the grandson at the school.
When the teen was searched, officers found marijuana and a knife on his person, police said.
The teen was then handcuffed and taken to the Everett Police Department's south precinct, where he managed to pull his hand free from one of the cuffs. The teen then broke away from police and ran across the parking lot.
He didn't get far before he tripped and fell. As officers caught up, the teen spun around on the ground and "mule-kicked" one of the officers in the thigh and lower torso.
He was then booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of attempted murder for the high school shooting plot and third-degree assault for kicking the officer, Everett police said.
Detectives served a search warrant at the grandmother’s house and seized the grandson's journal, semiautomatic rifle, military-styled inert grenades and other items.
Among neighbors, there was only praise for the grandmother’s decision to involve authorities.
“There's a lot of kids who could have lost their lives,” said Julie Primachik, who lives across the street. “I think it’s a hero-like thing to do.”
Christian Vazquez said the grandmother always seemed very kind. However, Vazquez rarely saw the teen who police arrested, except for one time when he was wandering around the cul-de-sac lost in thought at three in the morning.
“I hope he's getting help also, mentally and emotionally," Vazquez said.
Police believe the teen also robbed an AM/PM store on Casino Road on Monday night, according to court documents. Police say the teen admitted to the robbery in a journal entry using a mask, jacket, and rifle that were later found inside his grandmother’s home. In the journal entry, the teen described how powerful he felt and how scared the cashier was when he pointed his gun at her, court documents state.
Police haven’t yet been able to make a conclusive link between the robbery and the teen’s alleged school shooting plot, Snell told KOMO News.
A judge found probable cause in the case Wednesday and bail was set at $5 million.
