CNN – An Indiana teenager has been accused of plotting a school shooting on Valentine’s Day allegedly inspired by the gunman who murdered 17 people at a Parkland, Florida, high school on February 14, 2018, according to police and court records.
Trinity Shockley, 18, has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and two terrorism-related charges, according to Morgan County court records. CNN is trying to determine if Shockley has legal representation.
Shockley is charged under the name Trinity but is [so-called] transgender and prefers to be called Jamie, according to an affidavit obtained by CNN affiliate WISH. It’s unclear which pronouns Shockley uses.
Detectives with the Mooresville Metropolitan Police Department received information from the FBI that a person, who authorities later identified as Shockley, was potentially planning a school shooting at Mooresville High School, according to a media release.
Mooresville is about 10 miles southwest of Indianapolis and has about 10,000 residents.
“Nothing ever happens in Mooresville. It’s a small town,” Mooresville Police Chief Kerry Buckner told CNN affiliate WTHR.
“To think somebody was plotting to hurt a lot of individuals of kids, future leaders of this country or whoever is pretty disturbing.”
Investigators learned Shockley planned to carry out the mass shooting on February 14, exactly seven years after the Parkland shooting, the release said.
Shockley is currently being held in the Morgan County Jail without bond, police said.
According to the affidavit, a tipster called the FBI’s Sandy Hook tip line and said their friend had access to an AR-15, had just ordered a bulletproof vest, and admires Nikolas Cruz, the Parkland shooter.
Cruz is serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole after he pleaded guilty to murdering 17 people and wounding 17 others in the worst mass shooting at a high school in US history.
The tip included messages Shockley appears to have sent on the messaging app Discord describing plans for the shooting, according to the affidavit.
One of Shockley’s targets, according to the affidavit, was their [sic] best friend.
“I’m shooting him,” Shockley allegedly wrote in messages with another person …
