Mom Charged In Columbine-Style Plot In Pa.

Cops Say She Helped Son, 14, Build Guns Arsenal; Teen Wrote Admiringly Of Colo. Massacre

(CBS/AP)  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 a .22-caliber handgun, a .22-caliber rifle and a 9 mm semiautomatic rifle, authorities said.

CBS News correspondent Maggie Rodriguez reported that officials knew the young suspect's motive: he felt bullied by the students at Plymouth Whitemarsh. But the plot for revenge was foiled when the young man tried to seek out an accomplice who led police to the suspect's house and a disturbing arsenal.

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 L. Castor Jr. said.

Cossey, 46, of Plymouth Meeting, bought the rifle, which had a laser scope, at a gun show 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.

The teen was ordered Friday to remain in juvenile detention.

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 later released on bail.

Castor has said he does not believe and attack was imminent nor would occur at all. He said Friday that the teen had a "disturbed mind."

"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."

Suspect's MySpace Page Alluded To Columbine

On his MySpace page, the 14-year-old boy accused of planning an attack on a high school makes frequent references to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, and describes their 1999 massacre at Columbine High School as one of his interests.

On his page, headlined with the phrase "Mess with the best, Die like the rest," are tribute videos to the Columbine shooters, and a still from the surveillance video showing Klebold and Harris in the Columbine cafeteria.

In his lone blog post, dated March 29, he wrote about recruiting for his "military group" and about his favorite weapons.

In a badly spelled post, he called himself a soldier and wrote that if he could travel back in time he "would love to be in all the wars, expecialy ww2."

The teen listed "the COLUMBINE MASSACRE" and the North Hollywood Shootout, a confrontation between a pair of heavily armed bank robbers and police in 1997, as among his "fav historical times."

"O and as 4 my personal saying....if at first you dont sucseed, use the armor piercing rounds," he also wrote.

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.

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.

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.

[gunownerdan]

Millions of children safely have and shoot guns.
I started shooting guns when I was 12 years old.
It all depends on how responsible the parents are.

[michellem99-2009]

It will come out in the wash as my mother say. Mother is using a walker and why was she buying guns for a child. The father he must me upset with the wife for breaking the rules. Bullying they needed to stop it. True I have no kids but as a teen have watch them as that was hard as I could not see them. The boys loved to play with trucks so I played with the truck with them The digging , That way they would not use my blindness against me.

[grammawhamma]

klingon69: The picture is still there. Third picture under photos.

[klingon69]

Klingon, they did show a picture of the father and mother in an earlier article yesterday maybe? SO, with that being said since you seem to think that parenting knowledge can only come from parents, I will say that these parents failed miserably. Furthermore, to provide a troubled child with guns is just another example of their stupidity and lack of discipline. So pathetic!
Posted by linfinster at 01:08 AM : Oct 14, 2007

I never saw the picture, saw the "arsenal", saw mom crying, mom on walker, but no father, and did not hear any mention of him in the article. As for parenting knowledge, I don''t think it can come from being a parent, no. However that knowledge is usually gained by being a parent, and many times these so-called "child experts" don''t even have children.

[chad55555]

I think it''s very important to remember you NEVER hear the whole story. I would like to hear both sides before making up my mind about this story. Guns are only a tool to use when needed,like cars or planes(911) can and will be misused by both privae and police like in Wis last week by an officer(killing 6)or(police) in Ohio killing a 5 year old boy fishing with his Grandfather. The public never finds out the real truth about a story until years later(when no one cares anymore). In this case I would think,he had no intensions of harming anyone,sounds like someone getting back at another USING the police to do it. Being a combat veteran I know the difference between the sheep and the wolf that looks like a sheep. TWO SIDE TO EVERY STORY.AFTER 911 and OTHER SCHOOL PROBLEMS THE POLICE TEND TO JUMP WITHOUT THINKING WANTING TO BE THE HERO BECAUSE THEY FAILED AMERICA SO MANY OTHER TIMES,MAYBE THAT"S GOOD MAYBEW IT:S BAD ONLY TIME WILL TELL .

[mchelle1031]

Buy your child a gun and you''ll be brought up on felony gun law violations, your child will be taken away from you probably put into a boot camp and...well, we see what they do to children in boot camps.

[linfinster]

Klingon, they did show a picture of the father and mother in an earlier article yesterday maybe? I HAVE raised my son, he is law abiding, and now, at 19, earning as much money as I am as a real estate agent. SO, with that being said since you seem to think that parenting knowledge can only come from parents, I will say that these parents failed miserably. Furthermore, to provide a troubled child with guns is just another example of their stupidity and lack of discipline. So pathetic!

[michellem99-2009]

Tool good answer, may they oaught let parents put their paw on the child seat and and have him/her mind.. Oh wait the nanny govt banned that so the kids have to be mouthy as Mum/Dad can''t do that. Some that don''t work.

[toolmangler-2009]

What Would Jayzusssssssssssssssss Say About This *** ?
Posted by JackSteen1 at 07:52 PM : Oct 13, 2007


He would probably wash your mouth out with soap then show ''you'' how to help people like that and leave the rest up to you...

[jacksteen1]

Anmother example of the evangelical, free-thinking, libertarian quest for turning children into little drones of their parents with the same moral fiber (or lack thereof), same prejudices, same ignorance of the same subjects...all by the miracle of HOME SKOOLING !!

Evangelical ''christian'' groups prefer this way of indoctrination because it stifles healthy debate with other children of the same age and background. If Mom or Dad is instructing, them who is going to ask any REAL penetrating questions ?

And what do you get for your home skooling little Johnny ? A mindless clone that acts out at the drop of a hat when his little set of moral "laws" is upset by reality in the outside world.

Get a gun and kill those who don''t see the World as Mom and Dad taught me about it.

Pathetic.

What Would Jayzusssssssssssssssss Say About This *** ?

[toolmangler-2009]

How does the rest of the world survive without the guns we have?
Posted by Keithle1 at 11:36 AM : Oct 13, 2007



They don''t,we and the Russians are selling out faster than we can make them. (How many people get laid off from gun making companies?) I will be surprised if any do.

[schoolmast1]

MCVett said "To: all anti-gun nuts

Virginia Tech was declared a "gun-free" zone,
and look what happened."

What happened was that an ARMED students killed a lot of people. An armed student caused the massacre and the gun lobby solution to the problem is to arm them all. I wonder how will it feel to be a professor during finals with all or a lot of students armed. "LOL" A study I read said that there is a high rate of depression cases among college students specially during finals. Arming students is only a good idea for the narrow-minded gun huggers!~

"Criminals loved unarmed victims."

Gun NUTZ love unarmed criminals. In most cases citizens defending themselves with firearms do so against unarmed criminals or those armed with weapons other than firearms.

[michellem99-2009]

We have a man in the white house borned in CT and raised in TX and he has that olde wild west talk when he opens that pie hole of his. We have Bush wanted to run other nation thru an illegal war. We can''t teach the American kids to be good citzens. What do they have to look falward to. A war over seas. I FELT HOPELESS GROWING UP BUT NEVER DREAMT OF THIS. IS IS THE TIME IN HISTORY OR TOO MUSH WANTS OR IS IT THE HAVE NOTS VS THE HAVES..PARENTS NO LONGER CARE. WHAT..

[mcvett]

To: all anti-gun nuts

Virginia Tech was declared a "gun-free" zone,
and look what happened.

Criminals loved unarmed victims.

.

[schoolmast1]

Keithle1 asked "How does the rest of the world survive without the guns we have?" Were you being cynical? If you were I like it. Nevertheless countries without the guns we have have been able to "survive" because they don''t lose 30,000 citizens each year to guns.

[michellem99-2009]

Gramma,they have them games that are rated for teens and I heard that young kids play them and they have a rating system as TV does. They did a local news story on them and children. GRAND THIFT AUTO was at the heart of it. I am sure parents/care takers buy the games having no idea of what the games are or taking the time to look up what are. They buy them to stop the whining.

[grammawhamma]

There has already been a Columbine game. CBS did an article on it back months ago. You play as one of the shooters. The game is shareware and I don''''t recall the url for downloading it.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by Klingon69 at 12:08 PM : Oct 13, 2007

I didn''t know that existed...how disgusting. I have seen some of these violent video games. A few years ago I saw a 7 year old playing Grand Theft Auto...it was violent. I am sure the games have gotten even worse since then. I wish they would ban them...I do think they can affect impressionable minds.

[whispyseas]

'' ... most disciplinary action goes to kids age 5 & less as they commit most crimes, though are most likely to suffer injury or death as a result of discipline ... ''

'' ... the lord sang scream my name & blame everyone but yourself, & dared kids sang scream our names & blame everyone but yourselfs ... ''

'' ... 300 hike naked dance dressed folk in 300 days to 300 weeks visiting up to 36 sick beds and 36 villages each night dancing get well feed world songs rallied around 100s millions sick beds drifting 10s millions spore bloom weed dragon trail fickle first aid lunch farm cottage studio trail crossing yseedsberry trail groups can assemble 90,000 little museums of medical you are here map song dance skit kit and still squeeze in up to 20 minutes each day of danceing porno get sick tax world songs ... ''

'' ... i threw grown men off backs of dragons to break all their bones, landing them in seaweeds that venomize them to keep them live for surgical recovery, it turned me on ... though they were all volunteers that enjoy that ... but everyone does it now and then, even grown men ... ''

'' ... one little naked girl on a newsdesk and the world is full of naked girls on newsdesks, one little armed dressed boy on a newsdesk, and the world is full of armed dressd boys on newsdesks ... ''

[klingon69]

And how ''''bout video games like the one where the kid gets to shoot people in a church??? ***? Next thing ya know some idiot will try to release a Columbine video game where kids can put the bully at school in the game as a target - jacked up society anymore - freedom and rights have turned into some thinking they can do whatever they want and be protected by some stupid loophole.
Posted by sbbm at 10:27 AM : Oct 13, 2007
There has already been a Columbine game. CBS did an article on it back months ago. You play as one of the shooters. The game is shareware and I don''t recall the url for downloading it.

[klingon69]

These losers should be deprived of weapons, tracked down and disarmed. That means, we need to make of our beloved USA a free weapons zone and go after weapon manufacturers and dealers in the same way we go after people who make and distribute illegal drugs.
Bring the troops back from Iraq and let''''s start working!!!
Posted by closethippy1 at 08:17 AM : Oct 13, 2007

The death could be because of over-population. In the old west New Years was celebrated by firing your gun into the air at 12midnight. Few if any deaths that way, however with people living practically in each others laps, this thing could occur. I worked security in Dallas, every New Years we would confiscate 15-30+ handguns, mostly 22, 25 and 32. The Mexicans would still celebrate New Years by firing into the air. My late neighbor, who was a poilice officer used to fire his gun into the air to celebrate, I personally fired it into the dirt.