Everett, WA – According to a press release from the Everett Police Department, an 18-year-old was arrested on Tuesday (February 13, 2018) after his grandmother called police to notify them that she had found a journal belonging to her grandson that contained credible threats against a local school.
When officers responded to the 10600 Block of Holly Drive in Everett, they met with the teen’s grandmother, who showed them the teen’s journal. The journal contained detailed plans and threats to shoot classmates at ACES High School. The teen also planned to use homemade explosive devices. The grandmother also told police that the teen was in possession of a rifle, which was stored in a guitar case.
Officers contacted ACES High School to advise them of the threat and then arrested the teen at the school. During the search of the teen, officers found marijuana and a knife on his person. Joshua A. O’Connor, 18, was booked into the Snohomish County Jail on probable cause for attempted murder due to planning and taking substantial steps towards executing a school shooting.
Detectives with the Major Crimes Unit responded to the grandmother’s house, where they served a search warrant to seize the teen’s journal, rifle, military-styled inert grenades, and other evidentiary items.
O’Connor (allegedly) wrote this in his journal: “I’m preparing myself for the school shooting, I can’t wait. My aim has gotten much more accurate… I’ve been thinking a lot… I need to make this shooting/bombing at Kamiak {High School} infamous. I need to get the biggest fatality number I possibly can. I need to make this count, I’ve been reviewing many mass shootings/bombings, and attempted bombings. I’m learning from past shooters/bombers mistakes, so I don’t make the same ones.” The teen also allegedly wrote that it was “a coin toss” as to which school to shoot up: his former school, Kamiak High School, or his current one, ACES.
On Thursday (February 15, 2018), Joshua O’Connor was charged with attempted first-degree murder with a firearm, first-degree robbery, and third-degree assault. Prosecutors allege in charging documents and at O’Connor’s first court appearance in Snohomish County District Court that the teen took a “substantial step” toward committing a mass shooting at his school when he allegedly robbed a convenience store on Monday to fund the shooting. He is currently being held in Snohomish County Jail on $5 million bail.
I so want to thank Ms. O’Connor (? name the Grandmother) thank her so much from the deepest regions of my heart for being the best family member a person could have had!! She no doubt did a very difficult, yet praiseworthy act of citizenship, in the name of family. Much praise and THANKS.