How a suspected school shooting plot turned out to be a prank in progress

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How a suspected school shooting plot turned out to be a prank in progress

Two suspects are in custody and a third is at home out-of-state after Enumclaw police feared a school shooting plot was in the making following a break-in at Enumclaw High School Saturday.

Two of the suspects are students at the high school, the third is a friend or family member of theirs who lives in California, EPD Chief Tim Floyd said.

“Looking at it through the lens of not just myself, but multiple members of my command staff, and school resource officers, it appeared to us that they were doing a dry run, a rehearsal for possibly an active shooter event,” he said.

In interviews with the oldest suspect, an 18-year-old not named at this time, he revealed he was scouting for a senior prank, not a shooting. That suspect turned himself into police Monday night after hordes of tips and media stories reacted to the suspicions of police.

“They had planned a senior prank to break into the school overnight to fill up the auditorium lunchroom area with balloons,” Floyd said, “so this was kind of their reconnaissance to get into the school and exit the school.”

Their break-in, which meant pulling repeatedly on a door until it broke open, triggered an alarm to police, who responded as the three males fled the building. Surveillance video captured the three going through the building, sometimes separately, then meeting up in conversation. In one moment, the younger Enumclaw student pulled out what looked like a pistol, pointing it around the corner of a hallway. It turns out that was an airsoft gun. That student, Floyd said, had the plastic gun in hand when they fled the building. Floyd is thankful that the situation didn’t end up worse, given that it’s hard to discern the difference between an actual firearm versus an airsoft gun in the dark of night.

“He has that gun in his hand. Our officer was too far away to see that but had that officer been 20 seconds faster, they’d of been face-to-face, and it potentially could have been bad. All over the planning of a senior prank,” Floyd said.

The 18-year-old was booked under a count of criminal trespass. The younger student was arrested in school on Tuesday and brought to the King County Juvenile Detention Facility. Floyd is working with prosecutors on charges for all three, including the California boy. The Enumclaw School District says students will face penalties in accordance with state law.

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