Teens Admit To Discussing Plans For Mass Shooting At South Pasadena High School
PASADENA (CBSLA.com) — An 18-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy admitted before a juvenile court judge Wednesday that they had discussed plans for a mass shooting at their South Pasadena High School last year.
The two – whose case was handled in Pasadena Juvenile Court – were ordered to be placed home on probation after admitting a count of making criminal threats, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Prosecutors say the two boys talked last August about carrying out a shooting at South Pasadena High School, sharing their plans with a third classmate and later threatening to kill the teen.
South Pasadena police Chief Art Miller said last year that the shooting plot was in its infancy, with no date set and no weapons in the teens' possession. But he said the students went to great lengths to research weaponry and tactics online.
"In our opinion, it was very viable what they were plotting," Miller said a day after the boys were taken into custody. "They were making a huge plan of a school massacre that identified three staff members at the school by name that they were targeting, along with some random students, as they called it. They just wanted to, as they put it, they just wanted to kill as many people as possible."
The two, who were 17 and 16 at the time, were initially charged with one count each of making a criminal threat. They later denied additional charges of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon, which were dismissed based on their admission to the criminal threats count, according to Greg Risling of the District Attorney's Office.
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