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US: Missouri Teen Fires Assault Rifle in School

A 13-year-old boy in a dark-green trench coat and mask carried an assault rifle into his school Monday, pointed it at students and fired a shot into a ceiling before the weapon jammed, authorities said. No one was hurt.

"Please don't make me do this," the boy said, according to school administrators, before police arrested him and thwarted what they called a "well-thought-out plan" to terrorize his school.

Police said a note in the student's backpack indicated he had planted an explosive device in the school, but no bombs were found.

Lt. Geoff Jones said the boy's motives were unclear. School officials said the student had no major disciplinary problems.

The seventh-grader, whose name was not released, pointed the rifle at two students inside Joplin Memorial Middle School but was confronted by an administrator who tried to talk him into putting it down, Jones said.

Instead, the boy fired a shot into the ceiling of an entryway, police said. He tried to continue firing but left the building when the rifle jammed, Jones said.

"We don't believe he was trying to fire at administrators or students," Officer Curt Farmer said.

Officers arrested the teen behind a nearby building. Police described his weapon as a Mac-90, a replica of an AK-47 assault rifle.

Superintendent Jim Simpson said police told him the boy had a fascination with the Columbine High School shootings that left 15 people dead near Littleton, Colo., in 1999.

The student was wearing a trench coat -- like the student gunmen at Columbine -- and had a T-shirt over his head with eye holes cut out, Farmer said.

Farmer said the boy's backpack also held military manuals, instructions on assembling an improvised explosive device and detailed drawings of the school.

"This was quite well thought out," Farmer said. "He had been planning this for a long time."

Jones said the gun belonged to the boy's parents, who kept the weapon in a safe at home. Farmer said it is not uncommon for people in the area to own assault weapons.


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UPDATE:

The 13-year-old boy who fired a single shot from an assault rifle inside a middle school was charged as a juvenile Tuesday in the bloodless shooting.

The boy, who entered Joplin Memorial Middle School wearing a mask, was charged with first-degree assault, armed criminal action and making terrorist threats. Officials of the Jasper County juvenile office said they were talking with a prosecutor about possibly charging the boy as an adult.

Another hearing is set for Wednesday, the juvenile office said. If convicted as a juvenile, the boy could be sentenced ranging from in-home detention to incarceration lasting no longer than his 18th birthday.

Posted by: SoulRiser
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Posted in: News on October 13, 2006 @ 12:00 AM

Tags: School

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