Five students arrested, accused of plotting gun rampage

[johnnie]

"RIVERTON, Kan. (AP) — Five teenage boys accused of plotting to kill other students in a shooting rampage at their high school were arrested Thursday after details of the alleged scheme appeared on the website MySpace.com.

Sheriff's deputies found guns, ammunition, knives and coded messages in the bedroom of one of the suspects, Sheriff Steve Norman said.

Norman said he would ask prosecutors bring charges of conspiracy to commit murder against the young men, ages 16 to 18.

He said officials at Riverton High School began investigating on Tuesday after learning that a threatening message had been posted on MySpace.com. "

More:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-04-20-kansas_x.htm

[lvx35]

1. God, I wonder where they get the idea that pre-emptive violent attacks...

Are a viable way to slve their problems? oh wait... :(

[INDIA]

12. yes!

it is Bush's fault! Down with the PNAC!!!

[Sinti]

2. What kind of dumbass posts their murder plans on MySpace?

Just asking. :eyes:

[devilgrrl]

6. A dumbass... who the hell else?

:crazy:

[Bushies gotta go]

18. Umm, the Columbine duo, for one. n/t

[Rocknrule]

21. Myspace didn't exist when that happened

[Bushies gotta go]

27. But the Internet did and they had a web site with all their info

on that Web site, if I remember correctly. It was immediately shut down following Columbine. What the peeople of Jeffco were PO'd about was that Columbine parents had found the web site and contact Jeffco Sheriff about it, who did nothing. It was one of the major criticisms of the agency following the shooting spree.

[slackmaster]

25. First class!

:nuke:

[karlrschneider]

3. Today is Hitler's birthday? Geez, I shoulda baked a

yellowcake...

:eyes:

[Chimpeach]

4. Isn't today the anniversary of Columbine, too?

What a buncha maroons!

[Robb]

8. Yes. n/t

[revree]

5. Boys and guns, men and guns...

Geez, we don' need no stinkin' gun control.

[NorthernSpy]

7. one of the first school shootings was carried out by a girl...

... believe it or not: Brenda Spencer, 1979.

When asked why she did it, she reportedly said, "I don't like mondays". Shooting people made the day more interesting for her -- or something like that.

I think she's still in prison.

[happyslug]

11. Yes she is still in Prison

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Ann_Spencer

[bunkerbuster1]

20. Someone oughta write a song about her.

Someone with a big heart...

[Justitia]

9. What's The Matter With Kansas?

Rhetorical question, of course.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

10. can't this be Clinton's fault somehow? just asking.

and can't the chimp take some sort of credit for defusing the situation with "firm" resolve?

[ShortnFiery]

13. I'm so glad that Distraction Shills like Rita Cosby and Greta Van Sustrun

May have something else aside from missing blondes and Duke University to obsess on for the next few weeks.

[DrBloodmoney]

14. Wait for it... 1... 2... 3...

must have been the video games. :sarcasm:

[benEzra]

15. Spokespeople are already making the "video games" claim...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060421/ap_on_re_us/foiled_plot

Ferneau and other students described the teen as a class clown who was often in trouble with the teachers.

He was an "oddball," student Trenton Berry told ABC. "Everybody picked on him and everything."

Norman also mentioned bullying and said investigators had learned the suspects liked violent video games.

I'm sure we'll also here more calls for banning rifle stock with handgrips that stick out, regardless of what kinds of guns the would-be perpetrators were planning on using, just like after Columbine (didn't hear much about banning 12-gauge hunting shotguns like the killers used to kill most of their victims). Heard a lot about black guns, trench coats, and "violent video games," though...

[DrBloodmoney]

16. the nuts are nothing if not predictable

:puke:

[Rocknrule]

22. Yup, videogames are the root of all evil

Just ask Jack Thompson. He blames them for everything from the crucifixion to the DC sniper shootings.

[benEzra]

23. The thing is, find any five teenage/young adult guys in the U.S.

and odds are that two or three of them will enjoy first-person video games, almost always with their parents' approval. Geez, every male under the age of 35 that I work with owns an Xbox and plays Halo. Now, I don't let my kids (7 and 5) shoot each other in Halo or fight the bad guys--I only let them run around in the virtual world and play follow-the-leader, under supervision--but I wouldn't have a problem with them virtually saving the planet when they're older. And Grand Theft Auto will never be something I'd want in my house, but I don't think it causes people to go out and commit murders.

I bet all 5 suspects in this plot liked to eat cheeseburgers, drink soda, ride bicycles, and wear socks also. Doesn't mean that cheeseburgers/soda/bicycles/socks cause people to make plans to murder a bunch of innocents; "correlation does not equal causation" and all that...

FWIW, youth violent crime is at a 40-year low, as I recall. The aggregate inverse correlation between video game playing and youth violence should put the video-game-causes-mass-murder theory to rest...

[Paladin]

24. You're Protesting Too Much

How about waiting until there are some solid facts about the type of guns and the kinds of video games involved?

No sense in getting frantic at this point---or is there?

[benEzra]

28. The video game bogeyman is already being raised by investigators

regardless of whether the games in question are Halo, Doom, or GFA...

There is a cottage industry of "experts" on both the right and left (remember Dave Grossman and "Killology"?) who pop every time something like this happens and claim that if only those evil video games were more tightly controlled, then troubled kids with psych problems would be fine and dandy and none of this would ever happen. Google +columbine +"video games" +grossman and you'll get 12,000 pages or so citing Grossman alone, a right-winger whose research has been shown to be absolute bunk but who (like Emory's Arthur Kellerman) is commonly cited on the issue because he tells the public health establishment what they want to hear.

I expect we'll be hearing more...

[Paladin]

29. Thanks, I'm Content To Let A Few More Facts Come Out

This morning's national news shows indicated the whole thing might be hoax, timed by a bunch of pathetic losers to fuck up the school's prom...

[benEzra]

30. Entirely possible. n/t

[Xenotime]

17. Where's the parents?

or legal guardians....aren't they being charged?

[leftofthedial]

19. their plot was intelligently designed

[Blue_Tires]

26. near tragedy averted

sooner or later, you would think some psycho kids would learn that shooting up the school is not the answer to your problems when the cool kids or girl next door does not like you....

[keroro gunsou]

31. D!oh...

i was a geek in high school, i played video games, i read books, i was relentlessly teased too, didn't make me want to kill anyone. kids these days. parents need to do their damned jobs and pay attention to their kids and raise 'em right. we're raising adults, not kids. god help the first loon that demands we ban video games, i guarantee they'll have a real fight on their hands. there are plenty of gamers out there.