COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Lawyers for two teens accused of planning a deadly attack at a high school claim they were simply researching a paper on school shootings and never intended to carry out the plan.
The 17-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl were arrested before a May 4th pep rally at Harrison High School where police thought they would carry out their plan. Police said they planned to attack from either end of the gymnasium, shooting as many students as they could.
During a preliminary hearing in the case Tuesday, the girl’s lawyer, Bill Holtz, said her alleged “hit list” contained names from a television show. He also questioned a school resource officer about whether weapons or other materials were found during searches of their homes.
“There was absolutely nothing by way of evidence found to carry out any plan, was there?” Holtz asked.
“No,” said officer Brian Strickland, who found plans about the attack in the boy’s notebook along with a school floor plan.
Strickland said they did find a gun in the girl’s house which belonged to her father, who is in the Army. It wasn’t confiscated.
The lawyers for the teens have won permission to have the boy’s former English teacher testify about how he asked students to research school shootings online for a research paper.
Strickland said the boy had written in a notebook that he wanted to kill as many students as possible because he was having trouble with his girlfriend.
Although there weren’t any specific dates for the attack found in the boy’s notebook, Strickland said the boy had written about plans to shoot students in the gymnasium so he assumed the alleged attack was planned for the school-wide assembly on May 4.
During questioning by a prosecutor, Strickland pointed out that a plan of the school had been marked up and the boy had warned at least three students not to show up for school on the day of the rally.
The preliminary hearing was expected to end next week and then a judge must decide if there is enough evidence to put the teens on trial.
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Information from: The Gazette,
