Five teens arrested in alleged Wash. school shooting plot

KINGSTON, Wash. - Five teens have been arrested in connection with an alleged high school shooting plot in Washington state, reports CBS affiliate KIRO.

Kitsap County sheriff's officers charged 18-year-old Matthew Smiley on Monday with felony harassment for allegedly threatening to "shoot up" Kingston High School today - Sept. 11 - with guns that were found hidden in his car, according to the station. Police were tipped off about the plot after three teens told officers that Smiley - allegedly angry about his expulsion from the school last year - showed them pistols and made threats.

Investigators said Smiley acknowledged making threatening statements but said he had no plan.

On Tuesday, detectives arrested two 17-year-old boys and a 16-year-old girl at the high school in Kingston, the station reports. A 19-year-old registered sex offender was also taken into custody an undisclosed location nearby. The four teens are accused of using social media to send violent threats to those who exposed the plot.

"We don't take this as just being smack talk between kids," said Deputy Scott Wilson, according to KIRO. "The witnesses felt that their physical safety and that of possibly their families was in jeopardy, so detectives acted on this immediately."

Kingston student Grayson Neal said he saw one of the suspects being pulled out of class Tuesday. "I was sitting next to him in fourth period when the security guard came in, got him out of class," he told the station. "Then I heard he'd been arrested."

Additional officers were posted at the high school on Tuesday. Teens told KIRO they found the extra police presence comforting. "We usually don't have a lot of police around so that was definitely different, and good," said student Jack Larson.

Smiley is currently jailed on $2 million bail. It's unclear whether he has a lawyer.