And sheesh, it's chilling.
At the Modesto Bee, "Tuolumne County sheriff offers details into arrest of four in Summerville High shooting plot":
SONORA - Deputies have arrested four male students after uncovering a shooting plot targeting Summerville High School, authorities said.Keep reading.
At a press conference Saturday afternoon, Tuolumne County Sheriff Jim Mele said the case came to him Wednesday when students noticed three suspects acting suspiciously and notified administrators. School staff on the Tuolumne campus immediately called the sheriff’s department.
During the investigation, detectives identified a fourth suspect. While serving two search warrants in the case, Mele said, authorities found “evidence verifying a plot to shoot staff and students at Summerville High School,” which the suspects later confessed to in statements to investigators. He said the plot was detailed, and included a list of victims, locations and methods for the attack.
“They were going to come on campus and shoot and kill as many people as possible on the campus,” Mele said. “It is particularly unsettling when our most precious assets —which are our students, their teachers — are targets for violence.”
Authorities said the plot was in the beginning stages and no students or adults were hurt. Mele said he wanted to emphasize that there is no current danger to students or staff at the high school and the department is confident they have all the suspects involved in custody.
“I believe, with all my heart, the reason we were able to stop this was because we have a level of trust within our community,” Mele said. “When you have a level of trust with the law enforcement, your education – we meet monthly, we meet constantly – you can do this.”
Detectives arrested all four students on charges of conspiracy to commit an assault with deadly weapons on Friday afternoon at their homes and turned them over to the Tuolumne County Probation Department. The suspects’ names were not released because they are juveniles. Mele also would not release their ages or grade levels. Mele said all of the suspects’ families have cooperated fully with the investigation.
Mele said the plan was uncovered when students overheard the suspects talking about it at school and alerted staff Wednesday afternoon. Evidence was later found included paperwork with statements and a list of potential victims including “several students and/or staff” who would be targets at an upcoming event on campus. Three of the students were taken out of school immediately on Wednesday and as the investigation continued the fourth was taken out of school on Friday morning.
No weapons were found, but Mele said the students were in the process of trying to obtain some to carry out the attack...
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