Two teens have been arrested for allegedly planning a Columbine-like attack at Connetquot High School in Bohemia.
Suffolk Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said a handwritten journal containing explicit plans for a shooting and bombings to take place at the high school was found at a McDonald's restaurant last Friday. The girl who found the journal anonymously dropped it off at the school's office, and school officials called police, Dormer said.
School officials identified the journal's author as a 15-year-old on long-term suspension, whose identity is not being released because he is a minor. Dormer said the suspect drew graphic pictures of pipe bombs exploding, and named students and teachers he wished to target on April 20, 2008, the anniversary of the Columbine High School attack. Dormer, reading from the journal at a press conference at Suffolk County Police headquarters in Yaphank, said the teen wrote his plan was to "take out everyone there, then turn the guns on the cops, then on myself. Perfecto!"
When a search warrant was executed on the 15-year-old's computer, Dormer said it was discovered the suspect had tried on numerous occasions to purchase weapons. Some of the weapons the teen tried to purchase included an Uzi automatic rifle and five pounds of black powder explosive, he said. Police said it's unclear whether weapons were actually purchased.
Police also found a Columbine-like video in which the 15-year-old was, according to Dormer, "very explicit in what he wanted to do."
Investigators said the 15-year-old enlisted the help of his friend, 17-year-old Michael McDonough (pictured), in the plot. McDonough has been charged with conspiracy and is being held on $25,000 cash bail. Click here to watch Suffolk Police Commissioner Dormer's news conference on the alleged Connetquot H.S. plot
To watch Suffolk Police Commissioner Dormer's complete news conference on the alleged Connetquot High School plot, go to channel 612 on your iO digital cable box and select iO Extra.