Teen accused of planning mass shooting to stay in custody, judge says

The 13-year-old boy who Pierce County prosecutors said was planning a mass shooting will remain in custody, at least for now.

The boy has been in custody at Remann Hall Juvenile Justice Center in Tacoma since his arrest on Sept. 6. The suspect’s attorney asked the court for release with electronic monitoring, but the prosecutor expressed concern.

“The state does have concerns about him returning to a traditional school setting at this particular time,” Pierce County Prosecutor Lena Berberich-Eerebout said. “Although these are just allegations, the state does have concerns about community safety. We’re recommending secure detention.”

After listening to both sides, the presiding judge handed down his ruling.

“Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m not going to release him today,” Judge Joseph Evans said. “I’m going to set it out for two weeks for him to get appointments set up, and if the same safety plan is in place, we will reconsider [electronic home monitoring].”

Evans scheduled a new hearing in two weeks. At that time, he said he would reconsider the boy’s release with electronic home monitoring.

Many guns seized from 13-year-old who allegedly idolized school shooters

Pierce County authorities seized dozens of firearms in connection with a 13-year-old accused of making threats.

Cappetto said that although the guns weren’t all in his possession, he had access to them.

“From what I’ve learned from the detectives, they went into that home, and there were just the negligence of firearms lying around the home and just hanging on the wall, completely free access to anybody to grab,” she shared.

Cappetto said that while it was initially reported to be threats of a school shooting, it is not specified what type of shooting the 13-year-old was planning.

“It’s unknown if it was going to be a school shooting or just a mass shooting in general,” she said.

Pierce County 13-year-old mimicked past mass shooters

However, Cappetto noted the preliminary investigation revealed the teen was fixated on previous shooters.

“It appeared that he was very infatuated with school shooters, and there were writings, and enough notebooks found that would indicate there was some idolization, when you’re idolizing somebody,” she explained.

Authorities also found loaded magazines in his room with blue masking tape around them, with writings on the tape, similar to past mass shootings.

“It was very clear that he was imitating some of the behaviors of the past incidents we’ve had in our history, which is extremely scary,” Cappetto said.

Contributing: Julia Dallas, MyNorthwest

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