Suspects in alleged school shooting plot in Georgia had floor plan, had chosen a date, warrants show

ATLANTA (AP) — Three people arrested over an alleged plot to carry out a shooting at a Georgia high school had gotten a floor plan of the school and chosen a date to carry it out early next school year, according to arrest warrants.

Shane Keith Taylor, 17, and Michael Brandon Terry, 21, had reached an agreement with an unidentified juvenile suspect to provide weapons and had planned outfits and discussed buying body armor, video cameras and combat boots, according to arrest warrants. They chose next Aug. 20 as the date, just a couple of weeks after the first day of school on Aug. 2.

The suspects are accused of planning a shooting at Cherokee High School in Canton, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Atlanta and are charged with conspiracy to commit murder, police said. The juvenile is also accused of disrupting or interfering with the operation of public schools.

A lawyer for Taylor, who is considered an adult under Georgia criminal law, said he had just gotten the case and did not have a comment. It was not immediately clear whether Terry, who was awaiting transfer from California to Cherokee County, had a lawyer, and The Associated Press could not immediately locate contact information for him. Police did not release the name and age of the juvenile suspect.

The FBI identified “threatening social media posts” and notified school police, who then contacted the Canton Police Department.

Police figured out the identity of the juvenile suspect, who they said lives in Canton and was connected to the threats. He was arrested Oct. 20. Taylor, who lives in Metter, Georgia, 240 miles (386 kilometers) southeast of Canton, and Terry, who lives in Chatsworth, California, were arrested on Oct. 23. It’s not clear what connection, if any, Terry has to Georgia, or how the suspects might have known one another.

Investigators collected guns, ammunition and electronic devices as evidence, police said. No ongoing threat to the high school or any other school in the county was identified, and the investigation remained active, police said.

Cherokee County School District Superintendent Mary Elizabeth Davis sought in a video message posted online Tuesday to reassure parents.

“The mere thought of a school threat, let alone hearing of an alleged conspiracy to carry one out, is honestly devastating, and, like you, I have experienced the range of emotions that follow this type of news,” she said. But she added that law enforcement agencies working together had “completely disrupted” the alleged plot and said knowing that the processes in place worked the way they were supposed to was “reassuring.”