Before the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, Oklahoma authorities received a tip that Sammie Eaglebear Chavez was plotting a mass shooting at his Bartlesville school. Chavez, 18, was arrested before daybreak on Friday.
"Sammie tried to recruit other students to assist him with carrying out a plan to lure students into the school auditorium where he planned to begin shooting them after chaining the doors shut,” Bartlesville Police Lt. Kevin Ickleberry wrote in a probable-cause affidavit for Washington County District Court, cited by the Tulsa World. “He also told them that if the students assisting him did not do what they were supposed to do, he would not hesitate to kill them and/or himself.”
A spokesman for the Bartlesville police was not immediately available after-hours for comment. Police told the Associated Press they found a small-caliber rifle at Chavez's home and notes on a possible attack.
The police affidavit cited by the Tulsa World said Chavez told a teacher he'd recently bought a Colt .45 and had researched guns and pipe bombs using school computers. Students said he'd also shown an interest in the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colo.
A Facebook profile under Chavez's name, which has more than 300 friends and was created in April 2011, shows a cranky teenager who lists "They should all die" under his political views.
"im an alcoholic, ive been hurt so much that its all i know, i hate women and men, and i dont leave my house because i have no reason to," the profile's About Me section states. The Favorite Quotes section lists several violent quotes and lyrics, including one from the band Slipknot: "I wanna slit your throat and [expletive] the wound!!"
In a Sunday email to district parents obtained by the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Supt. Gary Quinn wrote that the incident had been "difficult for us all" but that students had not been in any danger. He said police would increase their presence around the school district.
Police told the Associated Press that they were still evaluating the seriousness of the threat. Chavez was being held in lieu of $1 million bond.
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