Mass school killing could have happened at Cherokee County school last year

WOODSTOCK, Ga -- A metro Atlanta sheriff said suspicions about a possible incident of school violence last year at Etowah High School prevented a mass-casualty attack similar to what happened Wednesday at a Florida school.

Nikolas Cruz, 19, had his first court appearance Thursday afternoon and appeared in shackles and an orange jumpsuit. He is being held without bond in connection with the killing of 17 people at a Parkland, Fla., high school.

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Last October, Woodstock police got a tip about two students who were allegedly plotting a murderous attack at the school.

One of the students already had been posting, on social media, references to school violence, such as, “outrun my gun” and “a bulletproof blanket seeks to shield kids during school shootings.”

Investigators said the other student wrote detailed plans for violence against the school in a journal.

Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds is sure the tip police received saved lives.

“This could have been a Columbine type incident,” Reynolds said. “And this is what we want with our community. We want to have good cooperation. And the opportunity to act on the information that the citizen gave us. And this is just a success story because of that.”

The two teens pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

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“There was an imminent threat, only from the fact that they had detailed plans of what they wanted to do and how they wanted to carry it out,” Reynolds said. “That’s the concerning part about this and that’s why we take it so seriously.”

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A tipster did tell the FBI this past September that someone named Nikolas Cruz posted on YouTube, “I’m going to be a professional school shooter.”

The FBI’s Robert Lasky said agents investigated the tip back then, but “no other information was included with that comment which would indicate a time, location or the true identity of the person who made the comment."

So that investigation went no further.

Police say they’d rather get a tip about someone that doesn’t pan out, than not get the tip they need to save lives.