On the same day as the Cleveland shooting, another 14yr old--Dillon Cossey--was arrested that evening in a Columbine-like threat against Plymouth Whitemarsh High School in Plymouth Township(near Philadelphia, PA).
www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/11...index.html
Police in Plymouth Township near Philadelphia took the boy into custody after a search of his home turned up a number of weapons, including a 9 mm rifle with a laser scope and dozens of air guns, said Deputy Chief Joe Lawrence. (swords, daggers, 30 BB guns, and at least three homemade grenades.)
--The boy's mother bought the rifle for him several weeks ago at a gun show, police said. No ammunition was found for the rifle.
www.philly.com/philly/new...20012.html
--his mother had earlier bought him a .22 handgun and a single-shot .22 rifle.
[Comment: She was also charged]
-- The .22-caliber firearms were not in the family's possession when police arrested the teenager Wednesday night.
[Comment: What were they doing at another person's house? Not explained.]
--Terry Bennett, a nurse by training who works at a preschool, described Dillon as "polite, quiet and softspoken," but said he seemed preoccupied with guns.
www.philly.com/philly/wir...07497.html
On his MySpace page Dillon Cossey features tribute videos to the Columbine shooters and includes 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.
--Cossey 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.
--Cossey refers to himself as the leader of the ".I.C.A.," the Imperial Cobra Army. The group has only one other member listed and the only post on the group's MySpace page is from the student, who wrote the group's cause is "to overthrow the corupt and evil governments of today and bring about a new world order of tommorow."
The teen last logged in to the site on Sept. 9
www.philly.com/philly/new...lence.html
--The boy's parents decided to home-school him 18 months ago.
--The arrest is one more grim reminder that bullying, once regarded by many districts as a problem between two students, has emerged as one of the root causes of school shootings.
--Plymouth Whitemarsh High School is in the second year of using a "No Place for Hate" program that is certified by the Anti-Defamation League.
[Comment: At 14, Cossey was too young to have gone to that school 18 months earlier. So how can bullying be called the motive here?]
www.philly.com/philly/hp/...7672.html.
--At the time, Lewis(Bennet--the one being recruited for the plot), a ninth-grader at Plymouth-Whitemarsh High, said the teen owned only BB guns, nothing more. Lewis said he decided to keep tabs on the scene and became something of a double-agent. He didn't agree to help, but he didn't tell him, "No way. That's crazy." He just listened, he said.
[Comment: I would like to know how long between the cops catching wind of this and the time of the arrest? Did they act immediately, or did they encourage their informant to string Cossey along, using the timing of the arrest for their own advantage?]
--"He had this little militia idea," said Kevin, a 14-year-old, who lives around the corner from the Cosseys. "He plays this game called, 'Call of Duty' it's a war game. He wanted to form his own little army...
www.philly.com/philly/hp/...lence.html
He also posted videos - one with a song apparently titled "Stray Bullet" - showing fictionalized school shootings. One video shows a scowling young gunman hunting down victims, shooting some at point-blank range, in a school library, a cafeteria, a hallway and classrooms.
Also posted is a link to a Web site memorializing Harris and Klebold.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21253029/
Police also found a DVD titled Game Over in Littleton, about the attack at Columbine, and three books: The Anarchist Cookbook, a 1971 book outlining how to manufacture explosives; an Army counterinsurgency operations manual; and Hitlers Second Book: The Unpublished Sequel to Mein Kampf.
www.philly.com/philly/new...inder.html
The teenager had no ammunition for the weapon ... and there was no evidence an attack was imminent, but, nevertheless, fear gripped the high school after parents and students learned of the possible plot between 9:45 a.m. yesterday(the morning after the arrest), when the school sent out 4,700 automated messages, and 10:45, when teachers made an announcement.
Although the school message emphasized that students were not in danger, many parents were not convinced. Within minutes the campus - already flooded with police cars and officers - became even more congested as parents arrived to pick up their children.
"It's pandemonium," said Maureen Bickings, the mother of Jamie Bickings, 15, and a resident of Plymouth Meeting. "They can't assure us he worked alone. . . . I think my daughter is safer at home."
Others agreed.
"He has to have backup at our school; it can't just be one person," said student Ashley Foley, 15.
[Comment: Interesting that everybody thought others were involved.]
www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/11...index.html
Police in Plymouth Township near Philadelphia took the boy into custody after a search of his home turned up a number of weapons, including a 9 mm rifle with a laser scope and dozens of air guns, said Deputy Chief Joe Lawrence. (swords, daggers, 30 BB guns, and at least three homemade grenades.)
--The boy's mother bought the rifle for him several weeks ago at a gun show, police said. No ammunition was found for the rifle.
www.philly.com/philly/new...20012.html
--his mother had earlier bought him a .22 handgun and a single-shot .22 rifle.
[Comment: She was also charged]
-- The .22-caliber firearms were not in the family's possession when police arrested the teenager Wednesday night.
[Comment: What were they doing at another person's house? Not explained.]
--Terry Bennett, a nurse by training who works at a preschool, described Dillon as "polite, quiet and softspoken," but said he seemed preoccupied with guns.
www.philly.com/philly/wir...07497.html
On his MySpace page Dillon Cossey features tribute videos to the Columbine shooters and includes 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.
--Cossey 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.
--Cossey refers to himself as the leader of the ".I.C.A.," the Imperial Cobra Army. The group has only one other member listed and the only post on the group's MySpace page is from the student, who wrote the group's cause is "to overthrow the corupt and evil governments of today and bring about a new world order of tommorow."
The teen last logged in to the site on Sept. 9
www.philly.com/philly/new...lence.html
--The boy's parents decided to home-school him 18 months ago.
--The arrest is one more grim reminder that bullying, once regarded by many districts as a problem between two students, has emerged as one of the root causes of school shootings.
--Plymouth Whitemarsh High School is in the second year of using a "No Place for Hate" program that is certified by the Anti-Defamation League.
[Comment: At 14, Cossey was too young to have gone to that school 18 months earlier. So how can bullying be called the motive here?]
www.philly.com/philly/hp/...7672.html.
--At the time, Lewis(Bennet--the one being recruited for the plot), a ninth-grader at Plymouth-Whitemarsh High, said the teen owned only BB guns, nothing more. Lewis said he decided to keep tabs on the scene and became something of a double-agent. He didn't agree to help, but he didn't tell him, "No way. That's crazy." He just listened, he said.
[Comment: I would like to know how long between the cops catching wind of this and the time of the arrest? Did they act immediately, or did they encourage their informant to string Cossey along, using the timing of the arrest for their own advantage?]
--"He had this little militia idea," said Kevin, a 14-year-old, who lives around the corner from the Cosseys. "He plays this game called, 'Call of Duty' it's a war game. He wanted to form his own little army...
www.philly.com/philly/hp/...lence.html
He also posted videos - one with a song apparently titled "Stray Bullet" - showing fictionalized school shootings. One video shows a scowling young gunman hunting down victims, shooting some at point-blank range, in a school library, a cafeteria, a hallway and classrooms.
Also posted is a link to a Web site memorializing Harris and Klebold.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21253029/
Police also found a DVD titled Game Over in Littleton, about the attack at Columbine, and three books: The Anarchist Cookbook, a 1971 book outlining how to manufacture explosives; an Army counterinsurgency operations manual; and Hitlers Second Book: The Unpublished Sequel to Mein Kampf.
www.philly.com/philly/new...inder.html
The teenager had no ammunition for the weapon ... and there was no evidence an attack was imminent, but, nevertheless, fear gripped the high school after parents and students learned of the possible plot between 9:45 a.m. yesterday(the morning after the arrest), when the school sent out 4,700 automated messages, and 10:45, when teachers made an announcement.
Although the school message emphasized that students were not in danger, many parents were not convinced. Within minutes the campus - already flooded with police cars and officers - became even more congested as parents arrived to pick up their children.
"It's pandemonium," said Maureen Bickings, the mother of Jamie Bickings, 15, and a resident of Plymouth Meeting. "They can't assure us he worked alone. . . . I think my daughter is safer at home."
Others agreed.
"He has to have backup at our school; it can't just be one person," said student Ashley Foley, 15.
[Comment: Interesting that everybody thought others were involved.]
