Skip to main content

Pennsylvania 'school shooting plot' foiled after police find arsenal of weapons in teenager's bedroom

A classmate allegedly overheard the suspect threatening to shoot four students
Uniontown Area Senior High School in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in an image from Google street view, 2013.
Just days after high school shootings in Texas and Kentucky, an alleged school shooting plot in Pennsylvania has been thwarted.
Police found multiple guns and machetes in a 14-year-old high school student’s bedroom after receiving a tip from one of the suspect’s classmates.
According to officials, the classmate allegedly overheard the suspect threatening to shoot four students at Uniontown Area Senior High School, located about 70 miles south of Pittsburgh in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
The student who overheard the conversation recorded it, said Fayette County District Attorney Richard Bower, according to CBS News. The person then told their parents, who contacted police. 
When authorities went to the suspect's home, they found an arsenal of weapons in his bedroom including a semi-automatic rifle, a shotgun, two machetes, throwing knives, two lever-action rifle, a revolver, a crossbow with arrows, and bulk ammunition for all of the weapons.
It is unclear how the suspect obtained the weapons.
“Quite frankly the parent and the child who reported this are the heroes,” Mr Bower said at a news conference. “Had they not reported this, there could have been a major catastrophe at Uniontown High School.” 
Asked about why the suspect allegedly wanted to target the four students, Mr Bower responded: “He didn't like them. That's what he said, he didn't like them. What a reason to do something.”
The teen suspect was arrested and is being charged with making terroristic threats, possession of a firearm by a minor, and criminal attempt to commit catastrophe, according to CBS.
He is being held in a juvenile detention centre and his parents are cooperating with police.
​Uniontown Area High School released a statement to the station saying that “security has increased throughout a number of our schools today.”
“The district would like to thank the Pennsylvania State Police, the Uniontown City Police, as well as our students, parents and staff members for their assistance and efforts to ensure a safe and productive day of education,” it said.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kano Hisbah Board destroys 30 trailer loads of beer worth N150 m

                                   The Kano State Hisbah Board has seized and destroyed 30 trailer loads of beer worth N150 million. In a statement released on Tuesday December 25th, the board’s Public Relations Officer, Adamu Yahaya, said that the cartons of beer were destroyed on Monday evening December 24th after interception at Kalebawa on Danbata Road in Dawakin Tofa area. “The Kano State Law No. 4 of 2004 has banned the manufacture and use of intoxicants in the state. Furthermore, an order was given by a magistrates’ court for us  to go ahead with the exercise,” the public relations officer said. The worth of a trailer load of beer is between N5.2 million and N5.5 million. The sale of beer and its consumption has been banned in Kano state.
Post a Comment
Read more

Twitter account of India’s Prime Minister Modi hacked

  The official Twitter account of Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s personal website has been hacked.   Twitter confirmed the hack happened early on Thursday September 3, as series of tweets were sent from the account asking its followers to donate cryptocurrency to the prime minister’s relief fund.   Twitter, in a statement said it was aware of the activity and had taken steps to secure the account.   The account @Narendramodi_in is the official Twitter handle for Modi’s personal website and has more than 2.5 million followers.The account was created in May 2011.   Modi’s personal Twitter account, with more than 61 million followers, was unaffected by the incident. “We are actively investigating the situation. “At this time, we are not aware of additional accounts being impacted,” a Twitter spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.   In July, hackers accessed Twitter’s internal systems to hijack celebrity sccounts like U.S. presidential contender Joe ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Eleven Nigerians die of COVID-19 in South Africa

  The Nigerian Union in South Africa (NUSA) Says 11 Nigerians have so far died of COVID-19 in the country.   In a statement released, the president of the union, Adetola Olubajo, said that the COVID-19 deaths were for Gauteng Province alone, adding that the union is yet to receive figures from eight other provinces in South Africa. He cautioned Nigerians who still do not believe the disease to do so and take all the protocols seriously.   “At the last count, 11 Nigerians have died from COVID-19 in Gauteng Province alone. I have attended the funeral of some of them. Many people believe that COVID-19 pandemic is political and fake and that they are just seeing figures. On the contrary, we have seen quite a number of our people that have died from the disease in South Africa. Another challenge we have is stigmatisation and refusal of infected people to disclose their status. We have provided a channel through which the identities of infected people will be pro...
Post a Comment
Read more