Minnesota teen credited with thwarting school shooting in Pennsylvania
Police in Pennsylvania are praising a teenager from over 800 miles away for his quick actions after they said he reported a threat that was allegedly planned against Belle Vernon Area High School.
The Rostraver Township Police Department said the teenager had been playing video games and chatting online with a 15-year-old Belle Vernon student when she began detailing her plan to him.
"He was concerned because he was playing video games. He was on the platform called Discord. A lot of our kids here in the area use that when they're playing video games. It's sort of like a chat network," said Colleen Naylor, a Rostraver Township police officer and school resource officer. "She had made several threatening comments that he took very seriously. He asked her what school district she went to. She indicated she went to Belle Vernon Area High School."
Naylor said the teenager did a quick internet search to learn where Belle Vernon High School was and then contacted Rostraver Township police.
"From there, our officers had gone over to the house. She was having mental health issues," Naylor said.
Officers conducted a search warrant inside the home, where Naylor said they found several concerning items, including a replica 9mm handgun.
"It did have an orange tip on it. Upon interviewing her, she just told me that she felt that Columbine was 'cool' and it wasn't her intention on doing anything bad. She just wanted to have it," Naylor said.
Naylor said they were able to review the conversation between the Minnesota teen and the student, where police said the girl allegedly indicated that "she wanted to shoot up our school Columbine style."
"After we see we had received all of her phone records and I had combed through it, I had found so many more remarks that she was making. She was referencing several other school shooters, and she was kind of idolizing them," Naylor said. "It was a real danger."
Police believe the student intended to carry out her plan on May 1 and had allegedly been trying to recruit others to help her.
"We take that threat very seriously, real or fake gun," Naylor said. "I'm not going to ask her questions about it, I'm just going to do my job to keep our children safe."
Naylor said the swift actions by the teen in Minnesota thwarted the alleged attack.
"What a hero he is. We need more people like him to step up and come forward," Naylor said. "Without him, I don't know what might have happened."
The student involved was taken to a mental health facility before she was booked into a juvenile detention center, where she now faces several charges. Police said they will have extra patrols at the school district on Friday.
"Her plan was to find somebody to help her with this, but as of right now, we have no proof of that. Like I said, I've combed through hours of phone records and there was no one else that she was working with. I'm very confident that she was working alone," Naylor said.
