Spanaway students arrested in alleged plot to take over school

By Jennifer Sullivan
Seattle Times staff reporter

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

The students, two boys, 18, and 16, and one girl, 18, reportedly planned the attack because they were tired of being teased by other students, according to Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer.

Investigators are looking into whether the three, members of the school's Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), were compiling a "hit list," Troyer said.

Authorities first learned of the alleged plan yesterday, when a school resource officer at Spanaway Lake was tipped to one of the three teens' "anti-government behavior," said Troyer.

"The whole thing unraveled when we sent a team of detectives out," Troyer said.

Searches of the teens' property turned up hand drawn floor plans of the school, notebooks and other documentation laying out details of the plan. Investigators believe the three had been planning the attack for the past two months and were trying to recruit other students to help them, Troyer said.

"From what our detectives are saying, they fit the profile we look out for," Troyer said. "Loners and kids who are picked on."

All three were booked for threats to bomb and injure persons, Troyer said. The two 18-year-olds were booked into the Pierce County Corrections Center and the juvenile was booked into Remann Hall juvenile detention center.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

E-mail this article

Print this article

Search archive

More local news headlines...