Students who reported troubling Snapchat messages thwarted a potential mass … – Albany Herald

Police in Florida arrested a student attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University for allegedly “plotting to shoot up the campus” on Thursday, which was the final day before winter break, officials said.John Hagins, 19, threatened an attack similar to the 1999 mass shooting at the Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, that left 13 dead, according to Chief Jakari Young of Daytona Beach Police Department. Hagins had a backpack that contained a collapsible rifle, a magazine and several boxes of ammunition when he was taken into custody, he said.Police said they got involved after two students reported worrying messages they saw on a group chat to the university’s campus security team.”It was a Snapchat group message that they were involved in, and they were very concerned about what was being relayed in this Snapchat group chat,” Young said in a news conference Thursday.After emergency responders were informed by campus security at 4:10 a.m., police rushed to where the suspect lived and detained him as he was coming out of his apartment, Young said. He had planned to go to a shooting range for practice and then to the campus, according to the police.”Today is the last day, today is the final exams.…
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