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SALT LAKE CITY — A Delta High School senior was suspended and faces criminal charges for allegedly threatening a mass shooting at his school.
Details of the purported plan were outlined in a search warrant affidavit unsealed Tuesday in 4th District Court. The warrant was served by the Millard County Sheriff's Office.
The investigation centered on a 17-year-old boy from Delta, according to the warrant. On Sept. 4, the teen told another Delta High student, who also works with the boy, "that he was going to do a school shooting," the warrant states.
The other student told deputies that the boy had made similar comments in the past, but they were dismissed as a joke, according to the warrant.
But while at work that night, the teen again said "he was going to shoot as many people as possible tomorrow during lunch at the Delta High School" and that he was going to use an "automatic assault-type rifle," the warrant states.
The boy told his friend to "either wear a red shirt or not wear a red shirt so he would know not to shoot her," according to the warrant.
The friend told deputies that "she was very scared due to how calm and detailed (the boy) was when he told her about the shooting that was going to happen," the warrant states.
A search warrant was served on the boy's bedroom and vehicle. A .22-caliber rifle was recovered, as well as three cellphones, according to a return to the warrant.
The boy was charged Sept. 6 in 4th District Juvenile Court with making a terroristic threat, a second-degree felony.
According to an article printed in the Millard County Chronicle Progress, the boy was suspended from school.
Sheriff's Capt. Richard Jacobson told the paper that it did not appear the threats were associated with any "protracted or complex planning."
"We believe that we intervened successfully and in a timely fashion as we take anything of this nature very seriously given present-day tragedies throughout our country," he said.
"We are grateful and fortunate that a witness to the threat came forward about the student," Jacobson told the Chronicle.
