Attack plan against Fort Worth middle school included police location, training with weapons
FORT WORTH – An attack plan against Truett Wilson Middle School included notes on where the closest police station was and details about practicing with guns and knives and training for war, according to portions of an investigative report read in court by a judge Friday.
Judge Alex Kim ordered two 14-year-old boys facing a felony charge of terroristic threat to be held in detention. He allowed a 13-year-old boy accused to return home after his attorney raised questions about how much the boy was involved in the planning.
The stepmother of one of the boys charged, described as a ringleader, said she was the one who discovered some of the subjects he had been searching online and first alerted officials at the middle school in the Northwest ISD last week.
The school district told parents in a letter that an online document with shared access included a watch list with the names of 25 students and seven staff members.
All three of the boys appeared with their parents by their side Friday and had little to add that would explain what had led to the creation of the plan.
"Never would we have expected this to happen," said a mother of one of the boys. "We have no words."
Along with the discussion of weapons, Judge Kim read a section of the report that said one of the boys wrote in emails that "Lucifer" was talking to him and had told him to take revenge against those who had wronged them.
Both 14-year-old boys had been evaluated for mental health disorders. One had been previously diagnosed with depression but was not receiving treatment.
The boy stood silently in court, in a navy blue suit, while Judge Kim read from reports that said he had been suspended for fighting twice and had been caught bringing alcohol to school.
The other boy, wearing a red flannel shirt and jeans, had reportedly been aggressive with a faculty member in the past. Recently, he had threatened a sibling with a knife.
"Was this just 13- or 14-year-old shenanigans?" Judge Kim asked rhetorically about the attack plan.
Before deciding to detain them, he told them he was concerned they may follow through with their plans given the opportunity before deciding to detain them.
Frank Adler, an attorney for the youngest boy, said his client had accessed and edited the "Watch list" contained in the online attack plan, but only to remove the name of a family member from the list. Investigative reports didn't offer any more clarity on the boy's involvement, according to Judge Kim, who said he didn't think the boy had actually threatened to harm anybody.
He did tell him that he hopes what the boy takes away is "see something, say something."
The portions of the report read aloud mentioned investigators had also spoken to other students at the school, who mentioned overhearing the two 14-year-olds talking about shootings and bombings. However, there was no mention of any of those students previously reporting what they had heard.