Boy who killed self at school planned highly detailed attack
Columbine shooters were a fascination for 13-year-old.
The 13-year-old Jackson Township boy who shot himself at Jackson Memorial Middle School last week had an “eight-step plan of attack” to shoot others at the school and had a fascination with the students who killed 13 people in Columbine, Colo., authorities said Thursday.
Authorities said they do not know what made 13-yearold Keith Simons change his mind and kill himself in a school bathroom with a .22 rifle after leaving and then returning to the bathroom with the weapon.
Authorities on Thursday released a timeline of the incident, compiled by looking at surveillance footage, that says that after 7:40 a.m. Feb. 20, Keith was seen exiting the bathroom, and a male student leaving the bathroom noticed Simons holding a weapon and notified a faculty member.
The timeline doesn’t say when Simons returned to the bathroom, but says that about 7:50 a.m., “faculty found Simons lying on the bathroom floor and yelled for 911 to be contacted.”
Authorities said they uncovered text in the memo section of Simons’ mobile phone that included admiration for Eric David Harris and Dylan Bennet Klebold, the two students who, armed with firearms and knives, killed 13 people and wounded 24 others at Columbine High School.
One rambling memo, dated Feb. 17 said: “I’ll look in those scared little britches eyes before I kill them there’s now I’ll have followers because I’m so awesome I know someone will follow me just like I followed Eric Harris and Dylan Kiebolt’s (sic) me and them want close to the same thing. It’s going to be fun ...... They say school shootings are horrible but they don’t think like us (sic) like me Eric and Dylan .... ”
Another memo says, “I’m going to die doing it, I hate those people, when they interview my parents and ask how they didn’t see the signs they should know it’s not them it’s me and it’s because of how I see the world .... I’d hurt and destroy something bigger but my schools (sic) and easy target . ... ”
Investigation goes on
Authorities, who are continuing to investigate, do not know if anyone knew of the boy’s plan prior to him killing himself, and they do not know if he had any accomplices.
This memo and others were included in a two-page document released to media representatives Thursday afternoon by Jackson Township Police Chief Mark Brink.
Thursday, the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office said the cause of the boy’s death was a gunshot wound to the head and the manner of death was suicide.
Armed with rifle
Authorities said Simons concealed a .22 rifle, extra ammunition and bottle rockets under his clothes on his bus ride to the middle school on the morning of Feb. 20.
Once he arrived, he went to the boys restroom where he was found before 8 a.m. with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said last week.
The teen died at 12:31 p.m. the next day.
Authorities had not said before the medical examiner’s ruling whether the shooting was accidental or intentional.
Nobody knew he had the rifle or the other items with him, according to the police investigation.
Police so far have not identified anyone else involved in the incident or anyone who knew about it.