Teen arrested for ‘planning mass shooting at her former middle school’
A teenager has been arrested for allegedly planning a mass shooting at her former middle school.
William Whitworth, 19, was taken into custody last Friday after admitting to wanting to open fire at Timberview Middle School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, according to arrest records.
Deputies showed up at Whitworth’s home after Whitworth’s sister said Whitworth spoke about school shootings and had violent behavior, reported The Gazette, which obtained the arrest affidavit.
Whitworth is listed as a male in the affidavit, but Whitworth’s sister described Whitworth as ‘Lily’ and ‘their sister’. Whitworth was transitioning to female, 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office spokesman Eric Ross told the newspaper.
The arrest took place four days after Audrey Hale, 28, fatally shot three children and three adults at his former school, The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. Hale was first described by police as a woman as assigned at birth, but police later said he was transgender and used male pronouns on social media.
Elbert County Sheriff’s Office deputies on March 31 found Whitworth drunk in bed in a room that was trashed and had multiple holes, states the affidavit.
Whitworth said there was ‘no specific reason’ around the desire to shoot up the school and admitted to being ‘about a third of the way from doing it’, according to the affidavit.
A notebook recovered by deputies from Whitworth’s home contained instructions on homemade bombs and making firearms with a 3D printer. Whitworth also admitted to watching a video on how to construct a detonator on YouTube.
One of the notebooks had a list of names of mass shooters, politicians and commentators, and called former President Donald Trump a con man, KRDO reported from the affidavit.
Whitworth was arrested on suspicion of attempted first-degree murder and faces charges including menacing and criminal mischief. Whitworth is being held on $75,000 bond.
Academy District 20 was not aware of Whitworth making any threats while Whitworth was a student there, according to school district spokesperson Allison Cortez.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.