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- Four students were charged in connection with a school shooting plot that was meant to take place on the 25th anniversary of the Columbine shooting.
- The students planned to "shoot up" their Pennsylvania high school and detonate homemade bombs.
- The Columbine High School shooting in 1999 claimed 15 lives, including those of the two student shooters.
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Four Pennsylvania students were charged in a school shooting plot that was meant to take place on the 25th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting.
Fifteen-year-olds Zavier Lewis and Alyssa Kucharski are being charged as adults, while two other students are being charged as juveniles, Lackawanna County District Attorney Mark Powell said on Friday.
The Dunmore High School students planned to "shoot up the school" and said that they "hated" Dunmore and wanted the shooting "to go down like" Columbine, WBRE reported. One student called "dibs" on a specific victim.
According to WBRE, Kucharski's mother told investigators that her daughter was "obsessed with" the Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colorado that claimed 15 lives on April 20, 1999. The shooting, executed by two students clad in trench coats, was one of the deadliest school shootings in American history.
According to an affidavit, Kucharski made Molotov cocktails and homemade explosive devices, and she planned to purchase gas masks, bulletproof vests, and trench coats, WBRE reported.
Kucharski is facing charges of criminal conspiracy, aggravated assault, terroristic threats, and possessing weapons of mass destruction. Lewis is facing the same charges, as well as a charge for possessing explosive materials.
DA Powell said there is not an ongoing threat to the high school, WBRE reported. He did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
"We are relieved that this plot was uncovered before anyone was hurt and urge anyone who has information about potential threats of school violence to contact police immediately," Powell said. "We are charging two students as adults because of the serious nature of the charges and to reassure the public that all threats to the safety of our children will be aggressively prosecuted."
In a statement, Dunmore School District said there is "no current danger to students and staff."