Disturbed Student Does Not Open Fire at Washington High School, No Deaths Reported [Updated]

 

In sharp contrast to terrible news from Florida, KING 5 in Seattle reported on Valentine’s Day that a grandmother stopped her grandson from acting on a plan to commit mass murder at his school. The grandson lived with his grandparents and had problems leading to his enrollment in a diversion program high school. His alert and engaged grandparents became concerned. The grandmother went into his room, read his journal, discovered his plan, and called in the police. The boy is in custody.

From King5.com

An 18-year-old student was arrested after a journal was found detailing plans to shoot his classmates at ACES High School in Everett.

According to the Everett Police Department, the 18-year-old’s grandmother called 911 Tuesday morning after finding the journal and believed the threats to shoot students at the school were credible.

Police came, read the journal and found weapons in the room.

Court documents state the young man wrote, “I can’t wait to walk into class and blow all those (expletives) away,” and “I need to make this shooting/bombing infamous. I need to get the biggest fatality number I possible can.”

Prosecutors allege the suspect had inert grenades in his bedroom that he planned to fill with black powder along with the AK-47 hidden in a guitar case.

This story stands in stark contrast to other stories of mass shootings. An engaged adult did the hard but right thing and the police listened and responded to forestall the attack. The end result is that everyone, including the would-be shooter, lived. Instead of prayers for comfort and healing, prayers of thanksgiving are in order.



A KING5.com update on the foiled Everett school shooter reinforced the seriousness of the threat the grandmother exposed.

The student had friends at the school who thought all was well.

ACES student Olivia Fox said she was stunned at the accusations leveled against her close friend.

“There was lot of shock around the school when they released a picture of who it was,” she said. “Me and a couple of his other good friends are shaken up, because we know how good of a kid he is.”

But his journal and his rifle told a different story (emphasis added).

His defense attorney said he has no prior criminal history whatsoever. However, police believe the teen used the same AK-47 to rob a convenience store on February 12. Court documents state he wrote in his journal about how powerful he felt because of how scared the female clerk was.

It appears that we were spared another mass murder by a grandmother’s tough love.

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  1. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    When I was a teenager, a student at my school was caught putting a gun in his backpack before attending. It wasn’t a mass shooting situation, but rather a somewhat typical story of a hormonal teenager doing something stupid without a moment’s reflection. Attentive, disciplinary parenting is needed always and everywhere… though the stakes are not usually so high.

    • #1
  2. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    When I was a teenager, we were issued rifles and had a firing range in the basement of the school.

    • #2
  3. Jules PA Inactive
    Jules PA
    @JulesPA

    When I was a teenager, we had gun and hunting safety training at school. While I did not carry to school, students with a hunting license might have brought their hunting gun to school.

    No one was afraid.

    The change in attitude toward guns, even my own, over 40 years is striking. While I am a staunch supporter of the second ammendment and gun rights, I would not want our young people to bring guns to school.

    Stupidity and poor judgement is rampant.

    Sadly, not just in the area of gun safety.

     

    • #3
  4. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    As the neighbor of the kid that didn’t shoot anybody I really resent losing the opportunity to tell the media that he was quiet and kept to himself.

    • #4
  5. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    Yes. Instead of focusing on the tools (guns), can we think more about the social environments we put people in, particularly teens who do not fit well with other teens. Through the mandatory public school system that has expanded to encompass virtually all of most teens’ lives (with the decline of the church and other multi-generational civic organizations), teens interact almost exclusively with other teens. We have set up a system in which hormonal teenagers are confined to existing almost entirely with other hormonal teenagers. Those who don’t “fit in” may have nowhere else to go. Almost all interactions with adults are with the adult in some type of authority role. Maybe it’s time to rethink how we educate teenagers.

    • #5
  6. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    TBA (View Comment):
    As the neighbor of the kid that didn’t shoot anybody I really resent losing the opportunity to tell the media that he was quiet and kept to himself.

    All my neighbors are quiet!  And they all keep to themselves!

    My God…

    • #6
  7. Mike-K Member
    Mike-K
    @

    The Florida school shooter was reported to the FBI by a You Tube subscriber who was concerned about a comment the shooter posted on a video last September. The kid even used his real name on the comment.

    The FBI interviewed the You Tube guy, a bail bondsman, and then did nothing we know of.

    Perhaps the FBI was too busy with FISA applications.

    https://www.buzzfeed.com/briannasacks/the-fbi-was-warned-about-a-school-shooting-threat-from?utm_term=.axwBqjr9M#.ondgPWBYw

    • #7
  8. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    How many times have you been inundated with the phrase “See something, say something?” And how many times do we have to read the sentence “The shooter was ‘on the FBI’s radar’ for some time but nothing was done?”

    When someone posts the words “I want to be a professional school shooter” on social media does that not meet the criteria of probable cause? If Google, Facebook and Twitter can build algorithms to target you with advertising can they not find this stuff in advance?

    • #8
  9. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    Why are kids and others today thinking like this?  They have become de-sensitized and are so angry – why?

    • #9
  10. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    Mike-K (View Comment):
    The FBI interviewed the You Tube guy, a bail bondsman, and then did nothing we know of.

    What should they have done?

    I’m sure there are enough latent threats around the country that assigning personnel to actively monitor all of them is impossible, if it was even advisable.

    “I want to be a professional school shooter” is not unquestionably a direct threat of violence meriting arrest. Perhaps there is some understandable context to the word “professional” in that sentence, but by itself the statement sounds like idle whining. When questioned about the FBI, a credible story could easily have been made to portray it as such.

    Perhaps there are steps the FBI should have taken. But I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on this.

    • #10
  11. Merrijane Inactive
    Merrijane
    @Merrijane

    Can you imagine how grateful the grandmother feels today to know she prevented the same kind of attack that happened in Florida. Grateful and sad at the same time.

    • #11
  12. Gossamer Cat Coolidge
    Gossamer Cat
    @GossamerCat

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    Why are kids and others today thinking like this? They have become de-sensitized and are so angry – why?

    I’ve come to believe this is the only question we should be asking ourselves.  Guns have always been with us;  teen angst and bullying have always been with us;  mental illness has always been with us.  What is different?  One thing is that never have we inculcated on such a large scale an inflated sense of entitlement in our children.  Are we paying the price?

    • #12
  13. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    Bravo! for that grandmother. In my first year in Seattle Schools a young man in my class brought his father’s 1911 to school with plans to put a few into me. One of my other students saw him putting the gun into his locker and reported it to me. I got the Vice Principal, and he and I went to the locker and secured the weapon. That was 1969. The kid was 13 years old.

     

    • #13
  14. Larry3435 Inactive
    Larry3435
    @Larry3435

    EJHill (View Comment):
    When someone posts the words “I want to be a professional school shooter” on social media does that not meet the criteria of probable cause?

    Probable cause to do what?  Send the kid to Gitmo?  Would you really trust the FBI to decide who to lock up based on some Facebook rant?

    • #14
  15. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    Arahant (View Comment):
    When I was a teenager, we were issued rifles and had a firing range in the basement of the school.

    When you were a teenager, it was muskets…

    • #15
  16. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    Larry3435 (View Comment):

    EJHill (View Comment):
    When someone posts the words “I want to be a professional school shooter” on social media does that not meet the criteria of probable cause?

    Probable cause to do what? Send the kid to Gitmo? Would you really trust the FBI to decide who to lock up based on some Facebook rant?

    It took two readings of the Washington story for it to hit me: there was no social media angle. This 18 year old was keeping an off-line journal, not even on a computer. Pen and paper. Invisible to the outside world. But his grandmother was concerned and acted on her concern by doing a physical search of his brick-and-mortar room.

    • #16
  17. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):
    his brick-and-mortar room.

    How do we know it was made of bricks?  ;-)

    • #17
  18. Ekosj Member
    Ekosj
    @Ekosj

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    Why are kids and others today thinking like this? They have become de-sensitized and are so angry – why?

    I’ve come to believe this is the only question we should be asking ourselves. Guns have always been with us; teen angst and bullying have always been with us; mental illness has always been with us. What is different? One thing is that never have we inculcated on such a large scale an inflated sense of entitlement in our children. Are we paying the price?

    Never before have so many of our children had to struggle through the angst without benefit of traditional family, social and religious structures.

    • #18
  19. Ralphie Inactive
    Ralphie
    @Ralphie

    Arahant (View Comment):
    When I was a teenager, we were issued rifles and had a firing range in the basement of the school.

    It was common at our school to see pick up trucks in the student parking lot with guns in the gun racks.

    • #19
  20. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    When I was in grade school we could bring a gun to school, on the bus, for show and tell.  We were not supposed to bring ammo, but sometimes did if it was interesting.

    I’m 49 years old.  This was not all that long ago – early 80’s.

    • #20
  21. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Spin (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):
    When I was a teenager, we were issued rifles and had a firing range in the basement of the school.

    When you were a teenager, it was muskets…

    Hey now! They may have been muzzle-loading, but they were rifles. They even taught us to patch them. Didn’t have to do that with muskets.

    • #21
  22. OkieSailor Member
    OkieSailor
    @OkieSailor

    Spin (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):
    his brick-and-mortar room.

    How do we know it was made of bricks? ;-)

    Why else would there be mortar?

    • #22
  23. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    OkieSailor (View Comment):

    Spin (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):
    his brick-and-mortar room.

    How do we know it was made of bricks? ;-)

    Why else would there be mortar?

    To take out tanks?

    • #23
  24. Gossamer Cat Coolidge
    Gossamer Cat
    @GossamerCat

    Ekosj (View Comment):

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    Why are kids and others today thinking like this? They have become de-sensitized and are so angry – why?

    I’ve come to believe this is the only question we should be asking ourselves. Guns have always been with us; teen angst and bullying have always been with us; mental illness has always been with us. What is different? One thing is that never have we inculcated on such a large scale an inflated sense of entitlement in our children. Are we paying the price?

    Never before have so many of our children had to struggle through the angst without benefit of traditional family, social and religious structures.

    True.  And that has as its consequence not only the lack of support, but also the teachings that we passed on through these structures taught students to be good citizens;  to put others before themselves.

    • #24
  25. MeanDurphy, Archtater Member
    MeanDurphy, Archtater
    @DeanMurphy

    Ekosj (View Comment):

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    Why are kids and others today thinking like this? They have become de-sensitized and are so angry – why?

    I’ve come to believe this is the only question we should be asking ourselves. Guns have always been with us; teen angst and bullying have always been with us; mental illness has always been with us. What is different? One thing is that never have we inculcated on such a large scale an inflated sense of entitlement in our children. Are we paying the price?

    Never before have so many of our children had to struggle through the angst without benefit of traditional family, social and religious structures.

    and with social media, you don’t get a break.  You are bringing the whole school home with you, including the bullies.

    • #25
  26. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    A KING5.com update on foiled Everett school shooter today reinforced the seriousness of the threat the grandmother exposed.

    The student had friends at the school who thought all was well.

    ACES student Olivia Fox said she was stunned at the accusations leveled against her close friend.

    “There was lot of shock around the school when they released a picture of who it was,” she said. “Me and a couple of his other good friends are shaken up, because we know how good of a kid he is.”

    But his journal and his rifle told a different story (emphasis added).

    His defense attorney said he has no prior criminal history whatsoever. However, police believe the teen used the same AK-47 to rob a convenience store on February 12. Court documents state he wrote in his journal about how powerful he felt because of how scared the female clerk was.

    • #26
  27. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    I just glanced at Fox News, and people are predictably calling for more gun control. We already have lots of gun control. We don’t need any more.

     

     

    • #27
  28. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    The point I wanted to make with my post above, but couldn’t because I had an appointment I needed to go to, the young man who brought the gun to school to shoot me was a special education student in a class for emotionally disturbed kids. He wasn’t expelled. I didn’t want him expelled. He was in my class for a reason, that reason had a lot to do with the behavior we saw.  I worked with him for two years after the event described. Much of what had brought him to my class was gone by the time he moved on to high school. We had developed a very good relationship, one based on mutual trust. The young man in Parkland Florida was expelled from school with orders to stay off of the campus. No provisions were made to deal with the problems he displayed. No one took responsibility. That is what is wrong with schools. No one wants to deal with the problems, find solutions or get additional help. They just want to expel and move on which is why a year later he walked into the school and killed 17 people.

    Over and over in my long career I saw situations where teachers, school psychs, and administrators were afraid to recommend special classes and interventions for seriously troubled kids who weren’t necessarily disruptive. It sounds to me as though this young man was that kind of student. He did bad stuff, but not in a way that got him put out of class. What it did do is get him ejected from the system he desperately needed help from, and no one did any follow up. That is insane. These kids don’t disappear. They remain in the community, and they sometimes endanger other people.

     

    • #28
  29. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

     

    Eugene Kriegsmann (View Comment):
    Over and over in my long career I saw situations where teachers, school psychs, and administrators were afraid to recommend special classes and interventions for seriously troubled kids who weren’t necessarily disruptive. It sounds to me as though this young man was that kind of student. He did bad stuff, but not in a way that got him put out of class. What it did do is get him ejected from the system he desperately needed help from, and no one did any follow up. That is insane. These kids don’t disappear. They remain in the community, and they sometimes endanger other people.

    Or, following a Florida mass murder on Ash Wednesday and a foiled separate plan in Washington, ought we to consider civilization a thin “Coat of Varnish” (C.P. Snow) over a fundamentally flawed nature?

    • #29
  30. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    Why are kids and others today thinking like this? They have become de-sensitized and are so angry – why?

    Internet, broken families and no G-d.

    • #30
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