Another Case of a good boy gone bad

[saintsfanbrian]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071011/ap_on_re_us/student_arsenal_2

By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writer 58 minutes ago

PHILADELPHIA - A home-schooled teenager who felt bullied amassed a cache of guns, knives and hand grenades and tried to recruit another boy for a possible school attack, authorities said Thursday.

The 14-year-old was taken into custody after police searched his bedroom in a Philadelphia suburb on Wednesday evening. He had talked about mounting a Columbine-type attack at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School, authorities said.

The weapons included a 9mm assault rifle that the teenager's mother had recently bought for him, Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. said. Prosecutors are reviewing her actions.

Police also found about 30 air-powered guns, plus swords, knives, hand grenades, a bomb-making book, videos of the 1999 Columbine attack in Colorado and violence-filled notebooks, Castor said. The weapons were plainly visible in the boy's bedroom, Castor said.

The search did not turn up any ammunition for the most dangerous firearm in the bunch, the assault rifle. Authorities said one grenade was operable and three others were still being assembled.

"I do not think an attack was imminent and I am not certain that an attack was going to occur at all," Castor said at a news conference. "It could have simply been big talking by a kid who thought that he was bullied previously and he was going to exact his revenge."

[You can't be serious can you?]

The teen previously attended middle school in the district but had been taught at home for more than a year after voluntarily leaving school, Castor said.

Plymouth Township police searched the home after getting a tip Wednesday from a high school student and his father.

The teen was charged as a juvenile with solicitation to commit terror and other counts and was being held at a youth facility. It was not immediately clear whether he had a lawyer.

Castor declined to name the suspect's parents and said he did not think they had retained lawyers.

"They are now under investigation by us, concerning whether there's any complicity in putting the weapon in this boy's hands," Castor said.

The arrest came the same day a 14-year-old in Ohio opened fire at his Cleveland high school, wounding four before killing himself.

Classes were held as usual Thursday at the Pennsylvania high school.

Obviously laws were broken. A minor is not allowed to be in possession of knives!!

[Guest bkelm18]

Hand grenades... wow. I'm guessing he found some details of how to do it on the internet.

[Marswolf]

What???

You don't have hand grenades?

[saintsfanbrian]

Yup, guns are bad but unfettered access to the internet by a 14 year old is fine.

[SkWaShDeM]

1 firearm, a live grenade, and 3 inert grenades constitutes an arsenal? Must've been the 30 mostly harmless Airsoft pieces that were mixed in there too... I'd hate to see what the media would call my gun safe.

[molonlabetn]

Well, the possession of the firearm was illegal...

The manufacture of explosives was illegal...

The threats made to classmates was illegal...

Seems to me that the actions taken by police, and those who reported it, were appropriate intervention. The media can go perform a lewd act upon themselves.

Wonder what kind of rifle it was? 9mm... that could be a Hi-Point, Kel-tec, CX-4, Ruger PC-9... none of those are 'assault rifles', by definition.

[Mike.357]

Wonder what kind of rifle it was?

No doubt it was fully semi-auto, in media definitions definitely an assault rifle.

Hand Grenades is a broad term too. What kind? Paint ball?

Isn't a youth allowed to own a rifle?

[Guest CrazyLincoln]

Does anyone see a trend here? Let's put a band aid on the symptom (i.e. guns) and maybe it'll go away...

This is the worst thinking ever. The problem is the kids need help. I'm just glad they caught this kid before something happened.

We need to help potential (and in this case actual) problem children with their problems and then they won't seek weapons and resolution though mindless violence.

I personally blame the breakdown of the nuclear family in society and our ever present "entitlement" mentality.

Thats just my 2 Lincolns...

[SkWaShDeM]

Isn't a youth allowed to own a rifle?

It varies from state to state at what age a minor may legally own a long gun. Ability to legally purchase comes at 18 as per federal law.

IANAL, but if memory serves, in Pennsylvania, it's age 14 or 16 to own a long gun. According to what I've been reading in the media, his mother bought him a Hi-Point 995 recently. Supposedly, they're your average Hi-Point, ugly as homemade sin, but functional and economically priced. As for the legality of giving her 14 year old a rifle... again, IANAL.

[Guest db99wj]

This kid was about to snap, guns should not be the issue here, even though the media is focusing on it, this kid is one sick individual, he just as easily could have stolen a car and ran it through a school, mall or whatever.

Mom charged with buying guns for son

Boy is suspected of plotting attack on Pa. high school

BREAKING NEWS

MSNBC and NBC News

Updated: 9:58 a.m. CT Oct 12, 2007

NORRISTOWN, Pa. - The mother of a 14-year-old who authorities say had a cache of guns, knives and explosive devices in his bedroom for a possible school attack was charged Friday with buying her son three weapons.

Michele Cossey bought her home-schooled son, Dillon, a .22-caliber handgun, a .22-caliber rifle and a 9 mm semiautomatic rifle, authorities said. The teenager felt bullied and tried to recruit another boy for the possible attack at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School in suburban Philadelphia, authorities said.

Police officials told NBC News that the boy had confessed to plotting the attack.

Acting on a tip from a high school student and his father, police on Wednesday found the rifle, about 30 air-powered guns, swords, knives, a bomb-making book, videos of the 1999 Columbine attack in Colorado and violence-filled notebooks in the boy’s bedroom, Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor Jr. said.

Cossey, 46, of Plymouth Meeting, bought the rifle, which had a laser scope, at a gun show on Sept. 23 and provided police with a receipt, investigators said in court papers. The teenager said the two .22-caliber weapons were stored at a friend’s house.

Father a felon

The boy’s father also tried to buy his son a rifle in 2005, but was not allowed to because he was a felon, police said.

The teen had a brief court appearance Friday at which the county public defender’s office and prosecutors agreed to continue holding him while they do psychiatric evaluations.

The boy was led out of the courtroom in shackles and he didn’t comment.

His mother was charged with unlawful transfer of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a minor, corruption of a minor, endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of reckless endangerment. She was not accused of helping the teen plot an attack, “but by virtue of her indulgence, she enabled him to get in this position,†Castor said.

The teen’s father, Frank Cossey, was sentenced to house arrest for lying about his criminal record when he went to buy a .22-caliber rifle for his son in December 2005, police said Friday. On his application he said he had never been convicted of a felony, but he had pleaded guilty in 1981 to manslaughter in a drunken driving death in Oklahoma and sent to prison, police said.

No sign of imminent attack

Castor has said he does not believe an attack was imminent or would occur at all. He said Friday that the teen had a “disturbed mind.â€

“This was a smart kid that clearly believes he was picked on and was a victim,†Castor said. “He had psychological issues and began to act out on those feelings.â€

On Thursday, Castor said he felt police were instrumental “in stopping a potential Columbine-like shooting.â€

Police, who searched the home with the permission of the teen’s parents, also discovered seven explosive devices Castor has described as homemade grenades: plastic containers filled with pellets to which gunpowder could be added. Authorities said one grenade was operable and the others had been in the process of being assembled.

The search did not turn up any ammunition for the most dangerous firearm in the bunch, the assault rifle.

Police also found a DVD titled “Game Over in Littleton,†about the attack at Columbine, and three books: “The Anarchist Cookbook,†a 1971 book outlining how to manufacture explosives; an Army counterinsurgency operations manual; and “Hitler’s Second Book: The Unpublished Sequel to Mein Kampf.â€

In April 1999, two disaffected teenage boys killed 12 fellow students and a teacher and wounded 24 other people at Columbine High School near Littleton, Colo.

The teen previously attended middle school in the district but had been taught at home for more than a year after voluntarily leaving school, Castor said.

Castor said investigators were reviewing material on the boy’s computer and in his diary.

Scared at school

Classes proceeded as normal Thursday after Colonial School District officials issued a text alert to parents saying police had determined “that the school and its students were never in danger.â€

But the arrest created anxiety at the school, coming on the same day that a 14-year-old boy in Cleveland opened fire at his high school, wounding four people, before killing himself. Some parents rushed to the school to pick up their children to find a chaotic scene.

Ann Marie Walter said that when she got the message on her phone, she was “scared to death.â€

“This is a terrible thing,†Walter said. “It’s not even close to home — it is home.â€

Columbine references on MySpace page

The boy also had a MySpace Web page, which was filled with references to the 1999 Columbine shootings in a tribute to gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, whom he lists among his heroes.

Among his interests, the boy lists “shooting, war and bank robbery.†His favorite reading material is listed as military strategy and books by famous generals in history.

In one post, he describes himself as a mercenary soldier and highlights a quotation attributed to the Marines: “Mess with the best, die like the rest.â€

Castor, the district attorney, blamed the boy’s parents for his alienation and violent fantasies.

“I’m very, very upset about the role, the lack of oversight that apparently the parents had in this case,†Castor said. “We need to recognize that parents are the primary persons responsible for teaching young people the difference between right from wrong.â€

[shaftbass]

It varies from state to state at what age a minor may legally own a long gun. Ability to legally purchase comes at 18 as per federal law.

IANAL, but if memory serves, in Pennsylvania, it's age 14 or 16 to own a long gun. According to what I've been reading in the media, his mother bought him a Hi-Point 995 recently. Supposedly, they're your average Hi-Point, ugly as homemade sin, but functional and economically priced. As for the legality of giving her 14 year old a rifle... again, IANAL.

IANAL is the worst acronym to ever hit the internet.

[Mike.357]

One of the things here I find upsetting is the lack of knowledge the parents seem to have about what their son was into.

I see nothing at all wrong with a parent purchasing a rifle and even a handgun for their child to use. But to leave the kid unfettered access to those guns is very irresponsible. As gun owners here I would dare say that we all act in a responsible manner when it comes to our hobby. People like this give us a black eye.

How does a parent not know about their kid being this distraught and extreme? Even more so when it seems one of the parents is acting as their teacher. The parents are way more to blame for this than the boy. He has probably been screwed since the get go of life.

It also burns me that the media sensationalizes to the manner at which they do. I do not trust that what they are telling is truthful. I see no assault rifle existing in this story. I see a bunch of airguns, knives and some potentially destructive devices. They call that Hi Point an assault rifle and it makes me question what else they are embellishing. What about the .22's? Is that part of the story true? I don't know.