Editor's Note: Charges against Ian Fotheringham were dropped on 9/25/25.

An 18-year-old from Falmouth, Massachusetts was arraigned Friday on charges that he was threatening to commit a school shooting. The district attorney for Cape Cod said he also had a 3D printer at home that was capable of making a gun.

Ian Fotheringham was arraigned in Barnstable District Court on one charge of threatened use of a deadly weapon in a public building.

Allegedly cased an elementary school

Cape and Islands District Attorney Robert Galibois said last month, Falmouth police were told that Fotheringham allegedly "indicated that he wanted to shoot up a school" and was "refurbishing firearms" in his room. He did not specify which school, Galibois noted. Falmouth police officers searched his home but said they didn't find any illegal guns.

Earlier this month, police were notified by school safety monitors that a suspicious man was seen walking in the woods behind Teaticket Elementary School in Falmouth and they believed he was "casing" the building. Police later identified the man as Fotheringham.

Police said on Fotheringham's phone, it also showed him outside Mashpee High School twice. In a statement, the Mashpee superintendent said police told her school wasn't in session and students were not there at the time.

DA: Suspect referenced 1999 Columbine shooting

During the investigation, the DA said photos were found on Fotheringham's phone of the 1999 school shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado. According to court paperwork, police found a black notebook at Fotheringham's home where he made multiple references to the Columbine High School shooting suspects. The DA said police also recovered a large 3D printer at his home "that is capable of producing a firearm," along with instructions on how to build a 3D-printed gun.

Court paperwork said that Fotheringham indicated he was part of a white supremacy group and sent a video to a friend of a shooting, along with making references to killing people and animals.

Fotheringham was arrested Thursday afternoon and is being held without bail. He's due back in court on Tuesday for a dangerousness hearing.

The case remains under investigation by Massachusetts State Police, the Cape and Islands district attorney and Falmouth Police.

Falmouth is a town located on Cape Cod across from Martha's Vineyard and is about 70 miles south of Boston.