2 Florida Teens Arrested for Planning 'Columbine-Style' Attack

Two Florida teens are behind bars after police discovered they were planning a "Columbine-style" attack on their middle school.

  • Philip Byrd, 14, and Conner Pruett, 13, have been in custody since last Thursday, when Lee County Sheriff's officials filed charges of conspiracy to commit a mass shooting, according to Sheriff Carmine Marceno. “These suspects will now face the consequences of their actions,” Marceno says. “Every single student and staff member in our schools will be safe. See it, say it, make the call.”
  • School administrators were first tipped off to the plan when they discovered a map of Harns Marsh Middle School, on which the pair had marked the locations of the school's security cameras, Marceno says. “Detectives also learned that the students were attempting to learn how to construct pipe bombs, and how to purchase firearms on the black market,” he adds. The mother of one of the students says her son is "just a little boy" who isn't capable of such a heinous crime.
  • Is it fair to charge someone for plotting a crime, not knowing if they were actually going to pull it off?

Photo Credit: Getty Images


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