Teens charged in alleged school attack plot
Associated Press
COMMERCE CITY — Four teens accused in an alleged plot to attack Adams City High School, modeled after the Columbine massacre, will be tried as adults.
Adams County District Attorney Bob Grant said Friday that David Robert Deering, 16; Derrick Helquist, 15; Steven E. Goldsberry, 16; and Kenneth Jacobitz, 15, will face two counts of attempted first-degree murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
They also face a count of second-degree burglary and a count of attempted second-degree burglary related to the case.
Police uncovered the alleged plot while investigating the teens in connection with a string of burglaries in Commerce City.
After discovering maps of the school and plans to launch an assault with guns on May 7, police began searching for the four. School officials placed Adams City High School under lockdown for about four hours, until all four were in custody.
The burglary charges stem from a garage break-in and attempted house break-in, Grant said. He would not say what the suspects took from the garage.
Three of the boys are dropouts of Adams City High School, and three also had outstanding warrants. John Lange, the superintendent of Adams County School District 14, said the district had been trying to get the teens to come back to school, but they had refused.
Lange said he was pleased the courts took the case seriously.
"I think that any person who tries to do harm to our children should be charged with the full extent of the law," Lange said.
Lange said the district has calmed down since the incident, but he said several parents have pulled their children from school for the rest of the year because of safety concerns.
The four are being held in Adams County Jail on $100,000 bond. They will appear in court again Tuesday, where attorneys will be appointed.
Meanwhile, in Denver police arrested a 15-year-old Kennedy High School freshman on Friday for threatening to kill classmates and a teacher, and blow up the school.
"This is not a prank. This is not a joke. This was not done to shock students. This young man was serious," said Detective Mike Staskin.
The student allegedly told two students Monday that he planned to handcuff people named in a hit list to their desks and "blow their hands off or shoot them in the head," the detective said.
"He also said he was going to go in the hallways and start shooting other students. He said it was going to be Columbine all over again."
Despite being warned that they would be killed if they told anyone about the plot, the other two students, together with a third who had overheard the conversation, came forward Thursday.
When questioned by the school resource officer, the 15-year-old admitted to having a hit list containing the names of three students and a teacher. But the teen destroyed the list before police could confiscate it, Staskin said.
The boy is being held without bail at juvenile hall on suspicion of felony menacing. He is due in court Monday.
May 16, 1999 | Print this page
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