Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 9 January 2025

These updates are shared to help raise the situational awareness of Faith-Based organizations to best defend against and mitigate the impacts from all-hazards threats including physical security, cybersecurity, and natural disasters.

Teenager found guilty of mass violence threat after writing school shooting plot

ABC News 7 reports:

A high school student was found guilty of the threat of mass destruction for writing a 129-page “manifesto” outlining a mass shooting plot at Wooten High School and an elementary school last year.

…

In a 129-page “manifesto” (name omitted) allegedly wrote a plot of how he wanted to be involved in mass shootings at the two schools in Montgomery County, including Wootton High School, where (name omitted) had attended.

“Some of the things that were in the manifesto included things like, ‘I want to shoot up my school. I’ve been preparing for it the last few months,'” said Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy. “These are chilling messages.”

…

“[The friend] did what we have been preaching in many, many ways to the young people in this community – whether it comes to guns, threats of violence within school communities – if you see something, say something,” McCarthy said. “At one point in time, when this matter came to our attention, he was actually committed to a psychiatric hospital. That psychiatric hospital also notified the FBI because the reality was [the friend], the school counselor, the FBI, and the doctors who were treating him at the hospital knew this was a real threat.”

Related Articles:

• Another 14-year-old arrested with a gun at Georgia’s Apalachee High School after deadly shooting
• The School Shootings Were Fake. The Terror Was Real (swatting)

Analyst Comments:

Threat Reporting:

As cited by State’s Attorney John McCarthy, “[The friend] did what we have been preaching in many, many ways to the young people in this community – whether it comes to guns, threats of violence within school communities – if you see something, say something,”

Schools operated by Communities of Faith should consider starting or improving procedures to encourage student reporting of suspicious activity. This incident is a good example of If You See Something, Say Something®. It is also a good example of breaking the Hostile Event Attack Cycle (HEAC) before a tragedy occurs.

The Threat Assessment and Reporting | SchoolSafety.gov website provides resources to assist in “Identifying, reporting, and addressing safety concerns can help reduce the threat of targeted violence and enhance student safety.”

The following resources are provided:

• School Safety and Reporting
• Threat Assessment and Reporting
• School Threat Assessment Toolkit – National Center for School Safety
• Improving School Safety Through Bystander Reporting: A Toolkit for Strengthening K-12 Reporting Programs
• USSS Averting Targeted School Violence.2021.03.pdf
• USSS_NTAC_Enhancing_School_Safety_Guide.pdf

Additionally, CISA posted the Supporting Safe and Secure K-12 Schools blog, which highlights CISA’s School Safety Task Force (SSTF).

Bullying Prevention:

In many instances, school attackers and potential attackers were motivated by bullying. Preventing or mitigating bullying can be an important part of preventing future attacks. The following resources can assist schools operated by Communities of Faith.     

• The above gov website also provides NCSS-Product-Highlight-Bullying-Prevention-Preparedness-Modeling.pdf.
• A website by a an education organization – Bullying Prevention | Children’s Safety Network – provides a wide variety of bullying prevention resources.
• The StopBullying.gov website also provides resources.