CHESTERLAND, Ohio — A student who brought a gun and ammunition to a high school in northeastern Ohio and planned to shoot others there was arrested after a bullet was found in a bathroom and surveillance footage helped identify him, authorities said.
The 18-year-old student was charged with attempted murder, inducing panic and weapons counts. He was taken to a mental health facility following Monday’s incident at West Geauga High School in Chesterland but will eventually be moved to the Geauga County jail. It wasn’t clear if the student has retained an attorney.
County officials provided details about the incident during a news conference on Wednesday.
They said the investigation began Monday morning after a 17-year-old student found a bullet in a men’s bathroom and told a staff member. School officials then viewed surveillance footage and saw about 20 students had been in the bathroom before the bullet was found.
Officials confronted the accused student around 9 a.m. and found an unloaded 9 mm handgun and three loaded magazines in his book bag, according to Chester Township Police Chief Craig Young. The student also had a large knife.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
The school initially did not go into lockdown after the bullet was found because officials didn’t want students panicking, Young said. The lockdown began about 30 minutes after the student was confronted.
After the student was searched in the school, he was taken to the Chester Township Police Department and told detectives that he used “prior calculation and design in developing a plan to cause harm to students at West Geauga High School,” Young said.
Authorities also searched the student’s home and found “numerous items of evidentiary value,” Young said, but he declined further comment on the search and also would not say how the student obtained the weapon. West Geauga Superintendent Richard Markwardt said the student did not have a history of discipline problems.
The school was closed on Tuesday due to a threat made on a social media site but that was determined to be unfounded. Classes resumed at the school on Wednesday.
Markwardt said the school is offering counseling to students and staff following the incidents. He said he would be “forever grateful” to the student who found the bullet and reported it to staff.
“Vigilance of students and staff is critically important,” Markwardt said. “That was a vital element in why this had the good ending it had.”
