Florida student arrested for plotting Columbine-style school shooting

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• A 19-year-old student of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in South Florida was arrested Thursday after plotting a campus shooting.
• John Hagins laid out his plans for the shooting on social media.
• Police said Hagins intended to bring a folding gun inside a backpack with hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Police have charged a 19-year-old student for allegedly planning an attack on the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. 

The Daytona Beach Police Department (DBPD) arrested John Hagins on Thursday and charged him with written threats to injure or kill, terrorism and attempted first-degree homicide. The teen allegedly planned to “shoot up” the Embry-Riddle campus the day before the school’s winter break.

Hagins’ fellow students alerted police to the shooting plot after he sent concerning messages, according to DBPD Police Chief Jakari Young. Two students went to the university’s campus safety department with their concerns. The university then contacted police about the shooting threat.

“They were very concerned … about a Snapchat group message that they were involved in,” Young said. “They were very concerned about what was being relayed in this Snapchat group chat.” 

Police arrived at the Andros Isles apartments in Daytona Beach, where Hagins lives. DBPD then detained Hagins outside his home, where they seized the backpack he was wearing, which contained boxes of ammunition and a folding gun.

The police chief alleged that Hagins had planned to leave his apartment that day and head to campus when many final exams were being held to carry out an attack.

Hagins had allegedly referenced the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in his plans, Young said during the conference. “He said … he was going to campus to ‘enact a Columbine,’ ” Young said. 

Young credited the two students who alerted campus safety with preventing a tragedy, saying, “they thwarted that plan.”  

Hagins is currently in custody, Young said during the press conference. He is being held under a no bond status until appearing before a judge.

He added that Hagins has confessed to “making these statements” about planning to attack the campus. “He may want to claim that it was all a joke and he wasn’t serious about it, but we don’t find anything funny about discussing a mass shooting on a campus,” he said. “If he was looking for attention, he’s got it.” 

Source: People