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- CLEVELAND -
Three students
involved in a plot to use guns and explosives at a
Cleveland public school
were charged with felonies Friday after search
warrants turned up firearms
at the students' homes.
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- Police and school
security later checked South High locker
by locker for weapons and
explosive devices
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- Cleveland Mayor Michael R. White said in a Friday afternoon
press conference that three students had been put in juvenile detention.
A fourth, who the mayor said will also likely be charged, voluntarily
submitted
to psychiatric observation.
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- Guns were found at two of the
students' homes. The weapons'
relationship to the alleged plot had not
been determined.
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- Several students admitted to plotting an attack similar
to the
one carried out at Columbine High School, in Littleton, Colo., last
April.
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- Decisions on whether to charge any of the other seven
students
involved in the alleged plot will be made at a later date, the
mayor
said. Those students remain in their parents' custody.
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- The felony charges against the
students include two counts
of inciting violence, one count of making a
false alarm, one count of aggravated
menacing, and one count of
inducing panic. If convicted, the students face
sentences of 6 months
to detention until their 21st birthday.
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- Cleveland
authorities shut down South High
School Friday.
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- "We're talking
about a plan to disrupt the school
with violent acts," White said
Thursday night at a news conference
at City Hall.
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- One of the parents of a South
High student who knew of
the plot alerted authorities, the Plain Dealer
reported Friday, citing
a source close to the investigation. White
admitted that rumors about the
attack had been buzzing around the
school, which has 1,500 students.
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- Dan Bailey, who joined other
parents and students outside
the school this morning, said police
arrested his 14-year-old son, Adam,
early Friday and searched the
teen-ager's room, taking a computer and some
disks. The teen remained
in custody Friday.
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- Bailey said his son had never been in trouble with the
school
or police, but "hung out with the wrong crowd."
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- "They're trying
to compare it to Columbine. It's
ridiculous," he said.
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- A girl who said shewas suspended told WJW-TV that the
students are being misjudged and that the
whole thing might have been started
by one person as a joke.
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- "It's making me
mad that everyone's saying that
this is like another Columbine,"
said the girl, who appeared on camera
but would not give her name.
"This has nothing to do with Columbine,
it's a completely
different thing, ... everyone's just jumping to conclusions."
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- Figuring
Out the Plot
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- On Thursday, security officers noticed a group of
students
dressed in black and questioned them about the talk of an
attack. The students,
all white and aged 14 to 18, were sent home with
parents, the newspaper
said.
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- Police and school security
later checked the high school
locker by locker for weapons and
explosive devices, White said, but none
were found.
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- What was found were
"documents" that appear
to point to a planned attack. White
refused to specify what those documents
were, but said that 11 students
face possible disciplinary action. The
Plain Dealer reported the
documents included floor plans and pictures.
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- The paper also reported that
some students gave written
statements to police about a plot to use
sawed-off shotguns and homemade
explosives to kill teachers,
administrators and fellow students. It was
unclear whether the students
had already obtained any weapons, the paper
said.
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- Gail Smith, whose 17-year-old
son, Maurice, goes to South
High, said she was pleased the school was
closed.
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- "It could have been a real tragedy," she said.
"Half the doors were locked and it could have been a real
mess."
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- Fox
News
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- Some students gave written
statements to police about
a plot to use sawed-off shotguns and
homemade explosives to kill teachers
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- According to the statements,
the massacre was planned
for just before noon Friday, with students
opening fire in the school cafeterias
and the principal's office. The
students planned to conclude with a suicidal
shootout with police in a
courtyard, the newspaper said.
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- "This is a matter that is literally unfolding
minute
to minute," White said. "We have an obligation to only
communicate
what we know to be true and to keep the conjecture and
rumors at bay until
we know what is going on."
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- Police department
spokesman Lt. Edward Thiery, said investigators
would be reluctant to
release information on the case. "We're gonna
be very
conservative," he told Fox News Online, "we're dealing
with
children."
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- Monica, a manager at a McDonald's near the school who
declined
to give her last name, told Fox News Online she was "very
surprised" to hear about the incident and that the South students
who frequent her restaurant do not seem prone to violence. "Most of
them are pretty nice," she said. "They don't really give me too
many problems."
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- She said school authorities should have taken more
precautions
in light of the Columbine massacre. "I'm not trying to
fault anybody
but I'm thinking they should've looked at it a bit
better," she said.
"I think a lot of people got that
mentality that it can't happen here
or 'we know these
kids.'"
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- Other Schools Threatened
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- As a result of the
investigation, security was being
increased Friday at all 120 schools
in the 77,000-student district, where
numerous copycat threats have
already been reported.
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- At the Cleveland Learning Center at Halle, a student
who allegedly brought a hit list to school Friday was taken into custody
and will likely face charges. Another student threatened to bomb Wilbur
Wright Middle School. At Charles A. Mooney Middle School there were two
separate incidents in which kids threatened to blow up the school; one
may be gang-related, according to the mayor.
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- South High School is to reopen
Monday with police, additional
security officers and hand-held metal
detectors to scan students before
they enter, White said. There will be
expanded security patrols at the
school until next Friday.
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- A number of other
schools will also have a police presence,
he said, though the list of
schools has not been finalized.
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- At Columbine High School last April 20, Eric Harris,
18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, killed 13 people and wounded 23 others at the
school before killing themselves.
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- " Chris Kensler, Patrick
Riley and AP contributed
to this report.
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