Massachusetts Law Enforcement Network

Massachusetts Police News, Information and Discussions on MassCops

Posted by: kwflatbed


AP


SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A 16-year-old boy asked for help obtaining a TEC-DC9 9mm pistol, saying it would be "awesome" to use the same weapon as the Columbine killers in carrying out mass murders in two states on Sept. 11, a prosecutor said.

The boy, whose name was not released because of his age, was scheduled to appear Friday for a hearing in juvenile court. He was being held at a juvenile detention center.
Authorities detained the teen Tuesday on an initial charge of intimidation, St. Joseph prosecutor County Michael Dvorak said. His office was preparing charges of conspiracy to commit murder after authorities found more than 100 knives at the boy's home, Dvorak said.
He said a school officer investigating an unrelated threat at the teen's school, Penn High, discovered Internet postings in which the teen discussed his support for the Columbine shooters, a reference to the 1999 massacre at a suburban Denver high school in which two students killed 12 classmates and a teacher before committing suicide.
School officials questioned the teen about his postings and learned he had exchanged e-mails Sunday with an unidentified person in which they discussed conducting "Columbine-like mass murders" at the same time on Sept. 11 at Penn and another location, Dvorak said Thursday.
Teresa Carroll, spokeswoman for the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corp., said the other location was in Ohio.
The pair also wrote about researching how to obtain weapons and make explosive devices. The teenager, a freshman, asked the other person to help him obtain the TEC-DC9 9mm pistol, Dvorak said.
Dvorak declined to give any information about the person the teen corresponded with or what the person's intended target may have been.
Authorities also found several illegal snakes at the teen's home in Mishawaka, about 10 miles east of South Bend, Dvorak said.
Police searched the student's locker, backpack, home and laptop computer and found notebooks in which he wrote about killing a large number of people. They found he had searched the Internet on Monday for how to make propane tank bombs and for a reference guide on how to make explosives and other dangerous devices, Dvorak said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352564,00.html

---

Posted by: kwflatbed

Ohio man plotted Columbine-style attack

By Joe Milicia
The Associated Press

LAKEWOOD, Ohio — A man is accused of e-mailing an Indiana teenager about conducting a Columbine-style attack on two schools, authorities said Friday.
Lee Billi, 33, of the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, was arrested Thursday and is charged with conspiracy to commit to murder, said Ryan Miday, spokesman for Cuyahoga Count Prosecutor Bill Mason. A 16-year-old Indiana boy was arrested earlier in the week.
Lakewood Police Chief Tim Malley said he didn't know how far along the two were in the alleged plan but said the two were talking about a Columbine-type plot.
Billi was held in the city jail to await arraignment scheduled Monday.
A computer was removed from Billi's home in Lakewood in addition to computer disks, papers, books and three partial boxes of handgun ammunition, Malley said.
Authorities said the two exchanged e-mails on Sunday and discussed mass murders at the same time at the teen's school near South Bend, Ind., and at another location. Malley said he didn't know the other location but it didn't involve a Lakewood school.
Billi lives in a two-story brick apartment complex within view of the Lakewood High School football stadium located on school grounds. The superintendent sent word through a secretary that he was unaware of any plot involving Lakewood schools.
Laura Budny, who lives in Billi's apartment complex, said he had worked as a security guard and lives alone. She said she often saw him coming and going in a blue uniform and he told her recently that he was having a lot of stress because of his mother's cancer.
"I just thought he was a dorky kind of guy," she said.
James Packwood, 15, a freshman at Lakewood High School, lives upstairs from Billi and said he was directed by law enforcement officers to return to his apartment on Thursday, apparently during Billi's arrest. "It's kind of scary," said Packwood, who didn't know Billi.
A judge in Indiana on Friday ordered the 16-year-old boy, whose name was not released because of his age, remain in a juvenile detention center and undergo a psychological evaluation.
St. Joseph Probate Court Judge Peter Nemeth said the teen must stay in detention "for his own protection and protection of society."
"It doesn't sound from past history that anyone was keeping an eye on him," Nemeth said.
Authorities said a school officer investigating an unrelated threat at the teen's school, Penn High, discovered Internet postings in which the teen discussed his support for the Columbine shooters, a reference to the 1999 massacre at a suburban Denver high school in which two students killed 12 classmates and a teacher before committing suicide.
School officials questioned the teen about his postings and learned he had exchanged e-mails Sunday with an unidentified person in which they discussed conducting "Columbine-like mass murders" at the same time on Sept. 11 at Penn and another location, St. Joseph Prosecutor Michael Dvorak said Thursday.
The boy lived in his deceased grandfather's house on South Bend's northwest side in a rundown neighborhood scattered with vacant houses. Most neighbors declined to talk Friday.
But Allen McBride, who lives seven houses down, said although the boy hadn't always lived there, he had seen him grow up for years while visiting his grandfather.
"He was an average kid, but kind of strange," McBride said. "He came down here one day with a snake wrapped around his arm and said, 'Do you want to buy a snake?' I said, 'Man get back there.'"
The boy seemed "a little strange, a little weird," McBride said.
The boy was handcuffed and shackled during a detention hearing Friday. When he entered the courtroom he looked as though he had been crying, and sat with his face buried in his hands as he waited for about 20 minutes while other cases were heard.
When his case was called, he stood before the judge waiting for his mother, who was outside, then leaned as she hugged him. His uncle placed his hand on the boy's shoulder.
His family declined to comment after the hearing.


Wire Service

---

vBulletin Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Limited.
vB Easy Archive Final ©2000 - 2008 - Created by Stefan "Xenon" Kaeser