Florida police said they have foiled a plot by a troubled teen to stage a horrific, Columbine-style massacre at his former high school on the first day of class. Thank God this was stopped in its tracks before anyone was hurt.
Jared Cano, 17, was arrested on Tuesday night after a tipster alerted police about his plan to plant pipe bombs at Freedom High School in Tampa next Tuesday, investigators said.
“We were probably able to thwart potentially a catastrophic event the likes of which Tampa has not seen, and hopefully never will,” Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor told the St. Petersburg Times.
Cops found a massive stash of bomb-making material at Cano’s home, including fuel sources, shrapnel, plastic tubes, fuses and detonating devices, the Times reported.
Bomb squad agents said the material was “capable of taking multiple lives,” the paper said.
Cops also found drawings of the school marked with the spots where Cano wanted to plant pipe bombs and a chillingly detailed manifesto that proved he was out for blood.
The would-be teen terrorist, who was expelled from Freedom High in 2009, specifically targeted two administrators and around 30 students, police said.
Cano aimed to top the death toll from the Columbine killing spree in 1999 and wrote admiringly of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the students who carried out that massacre, cops said.
Police also discovered a pot-growing operation at the house, including plants, lights, a scale and a glass pipe.
Cops busted Cano on Tuesday night after a “hero” tipster dropped a dime on him, Castor said.
In a hearing on Wednesday, prosecutors said Cano “verbally” admitted to planning a massacre, the Times said.
Police say Cano wanted the death toll at Freedom high to top the massacre that killed 12 students and a teacher at Columbine high in Colorado in 1999. (AP)
He faces felony charges of possessing bomb-making materials, threatening to plant or throw a bomb and drug charges.
Cano has a long rap sheet, including arrests for burglary, drugs and carrying a concealed weapon.
“We’ve been very, very familiar with him,” police Maj. John Newman told the Associated Press.
School officials said Cano was kicked out in 2009 for “inappropriate behavior,” and his Facebook and MySpace pages boasted about a hard-partying lifestyle.
In some photos, he’s pictured drinking a giant bottle of Olde English malt liquor and holding a machete, the Times reported.
“I love me some weed haha,” said a post on his Facebook profile earlier this month.
Under his favorite quotations, he wrote: “Lessons not learned in blood are soon forgotten.”
Officials said the school would open as scheduled on Tuesday. Parents received e-mails that the school was working with police to keep students safe.
NYD
