School Resource Officer: Teen Who Had Loaded Gun On Campus Was Part Of 'Suicide Club'
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CORAL SPRINGS (CBSMiami) – A school resource officer who arrested a teen for allegedly having a loaded gun on campus said that the 17-year-old was part of a "suicide club."
Coral Springs Police Officer Jeff Heinrich jumped into action Monday afternoon when two female students told him that there was a student on campus with a gun.
His first thoughts: "Active shooter, active killer. Why is someone bringing a gun? Is he there for a student? Is he there for retaliation on a student?"
The scene at Coral Springs High School was confusing.
The female students gave a description of Ryan Trollinger – a former student who withdrew last year – and another student.
Initially, Heinrich believed the other student had the gun.
The veteran officer saw Trollinger in the cafeteria and walked up to him.
"I said, 'Hey you know you're not supposed to be here. Let's go outside and talk about this out front.'"
Once they got outside, Heinrich said he could tell by Trollinger's actions that something was up.
"Once I got him outside, he was trembling. His lips were trembling. His legs were trembling," he said.
Heinrich said he found a loaded 9-millimeter handgun in Trollinger's waistband.
But Heinrich thought there was still another gun on campus.
That set in place an hours-long lockdown and code red while officers searched everywhere for a second gun.
They never found one, but they did find another student with a disturbing journal vividly discussing school shootings.
Coral Springs police said that other student told investigators that Trollinger said, "Today's the day it's going down."
Heinrich said Trollinger and that student communicated on social media about suicide.
"There is actually a club or a group. They do discuss ways of killing themselves. Suicide by cop was one of the things that was brought to our attention," Heinrich said.
On Tuesday, another Coral Springs teenager got caught up in this case.
Police said Sebastian Darrah was upset that Trollinger was arrested so he posted a threat on social media saying, "Watch out for round 2 tomorrow springs. We comin guns blazing you locked our (expletive) up."
Heinrich is most grateful to those two female students who spoke up about the weapon.
He said people in the community have been dropping off letters and gift cards for those young women, and one person even gave them money for a college scholarship.
"It's kudos to them for coming forward and actually having the guts to come and tell us about it because without them we wouldn't have known," Heinrich said.
As for Trollinger, prosecutors are deciding whether to charge him as a juvenile or as an adult.
