This time, the horrible crisis has been averted. In Washington, a 13-year-old boy with a school shooting fixation was apprehended and arrested after police found guns and written mass shooting scenarios at his home.
A 13-year-old boy who may have "idolized previous mass shooters" has been arrested after police found a large collection of guns and "mass shooting scenario" writings at his Washington state home, authorities said.
Police were notified on Friday afternoon about the boy, who allegedly had "school shooter ideations," "was making threats to kill” and said he had access to guns, according to the sheriff's office in Pierce County, which encompasses Tacoma.
Police searched the boy’s home early Saturday morning. The sheriff's office said authorities found a "large quantity" of secured and unsecured guns; "loaded magazines with school shooter writings on them;" and clothes and writings that reinforce a "typical mass shooting scenario."
This reads a lot like what police have found after the fact when a mass shooting has already occurred; this time, at least, they found it before this kid could carry out his plans.
Deputy Carly Cappetto with the Pierce County Sheriff's Office told ABC News authorities found 23 firearms inside the home -- many of which appear to be homemade long guns using 3D printed parts.
The teenager has been charged with attempted threat to bomb/injure a school, unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of fireworks, according to court documents. He is due in court on Monday.
The boy's parents have not been charged at this time, according to Cappetto.
Note the 3-D printing angle; this is one genie that's not going back in the bottle, and will only present more headaches for law enforcement as the technology improves. Of course, it also negates a lot of the arguments for gun control laws; if any basement 3-D printing setup can produce working firearms, then there can be no control. But that's a discussion for another time. The teen also had materials for fireworks and explosives. It is not yet clear how or where he obtained any of these items, or if his parents were aware of his collection and his weird obsession.
Read More: School Shootings Are Terrorism — and We Must Stop Feeding Them
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The question this does bring up has to do with, as the report notes, this young man had "school shooter ideations" and the role the non-stop media cycle has in that. He had been planning something for some time. His social media accounts are littered with photos of him holding guns and messaging out his "fascination of recent school shootings/mass casualty attacks." He had rifle magazines with messages referencing previous mass shootings, including the shootings at Colorado's Columbine High School. Was he truly inspired by the media coverage of these events?
Granted, neither the legacy media nor the new media can ignore these horrors when they happen, but sometimes one wonders if the non-stop media blitz that accompanies these events doesn't inspire copycats. That's a difficult needle to thread.
In this case, at least, the would-be shooter was headed off, and what might have been another horrific event was averted. We'll take that good news for a change.
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