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Austin James Cook Arrested for 'Planning Another Columbine'
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by Jordan Yerman | August 27, 2010 at 08:54 am
543 views | 2 Recommendations | 2 comments
Austin James Cook Arrested for Planning to 'Break the Record of Columbine'
17-year-old Austin James Cook was arrested at Leto High School in Tampa Florida.
Austin James Cook is accused of planning a school shooting to "break the record of Columbine". He was arrested after a witness said that Cook wanted to surpass the death tolls of the 1999 Columbine Shooting.
Austin James Cook says that his talk of planning a school shooting was a joke, but the police are taking the issue seriously: they want to try him as an adult. So far, though, all they've found was an old rifle in Cook's room, which his family says is a non-functioning heirloom.
Police also found a bow and arrow and a book about guns, which don't seem particularly unusual for a teenage boy to own. Did the police nip a murder conspiracy in the bud, or will a kid's life be ruined due to an overreaction?
He's being held without bail, and investigators want Cook tried as an adult on charges of solicitation to commit murder and threatening to discharge a destructive device.
A witness told investigators Cook said he wanted to "break the record" of the 1999 Columbine, Colo., and 2007 Virginia Tech shooting rampages.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 15:12 on August 28th, 2010
The threat is Fake. Leto was never in any danger. The girl was just angry with austin over something stupid, and called 911 cuz she wanted to use the Joke as blackmail.
at 08:42 on August 29th, 2010
Thats too bad, a young man's life ruined because of a girl that was out to blackmail him, wonder if the same media attention will be given to her, she should be the one in Jail.. I didnt think he could do or would do something like that.