A 13-year-old boy in Washington state has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges after police uncovered a cache of weapons and writings allegedly linked to a planned mass shooting.
The teenager was arrested in the early hours of Saturday after the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office received reports from an internet watchdog about threatening social media posts. Deputy Carly Cappetto said the boy’s posts suggested “school shooter ideations”, prompting authorities to move swiftly.
“When a SWAT team descended on the boy’s home in suburban Parkland around 1 a.m., they found a collection of 23 firearms, several boxes of ammunition, loaded magazines with school shooter writings on them, as well as clothing and notes typical to a mass shooting scenario,” Cappetto said.
Authorities reported that some of the firearms had no serial numbers and were therefore untraceable. Others appeared to have been manufactured using a 3D printer. Several guns were mounted on walls, while others were left unsecured throughout the home.
Investigators also discovered that the boy’s bedroom contained disturbing references to previous school shooters, which they described as evidence of an unhealthy fixation. “It is unknown who or what the intended target was going to be, but it’s clear it was a matter of time before a tragic incident occurred,” the sheriff’s office warned.
The suspect, who has not been enrolled in school since 2021, is being held at a juvenile detention centre in Tacoma. On Monday, he pleaded not guilty to five charges, including making threats to bomb or damage property and three counts of unlawful possession of a firearm.
Outside court, his parents insisted their son never intended to harm anyone. His mother suggested the social media posts were merely an attempt “to be cool” among peers, while his father said the boy’s actions had been misinterpreted.
The arrest comes amid heightened concern over school shootings in the United States. Just weeks earlier, two children were killed and more than a dozen people injured during a shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis, while hoax active-shooter reports across several universities strained police resources.
Authorities are continuing to examine the boy’s electronic devices in an effort to establish potential targets. Meanwhile, prosecutors are considering whether to bring charges against the parents for failing to store the firearms securely, as required under Washington state law.
