Colville-area student convicted of plotting a school shooting as a 5th-grader is heading back to juvenile detention

COLVILLE - A teenager convicted of plotting to kill a fellow fifth-grade student in 2013 is headed back to juvenile detention for an alleged kidnapping plot. The Stevens County deputy prosecutor called similarities between the two cases “alarming.”

Lech Radzimski, the deputy prosecuting attorney for Stevens County, said the boy was caught plotting to kidnap a girl he’d met while incarcerated.

The boy, now 15, was sentenced Monday to 30 days at Martin Hall Juvenile Detention Center for violating the terms of his probation from the 2013 conviction.

The boy’s grandmother, who’s his legal guardian, addressed the court arguing that a full-time return to detention would hurt the boy. She said the 15-year-old, who is on the autism spectrum and diagnosed with ADHD, has made progress since his release in October.

“Martin Hall is not equipped to deal with someone who is on the autism spectrum,” she said in court. “We believe he needs a consequence, too, because he did break the rules. But we want it to be constructive, not destructive.”

The grandmother said the boy has a counselor and, after the incident at Deer Park High School this winter, is enrolled in an online school. His grandfather is home with him full-time, and the teen doesn’t have access to a phone.

“Obviously, there is something going on,” she said in court. “Something that I don’t think jail is going to fix because if jail was going to fix it we wouldn’t be sitting here.”

According to Radzimski, the boy recruited another teenager and planned to travel to Yakima this summer to kidnap the girl. The two boys were planning to acquire a car and weapons for the trip, Radzimski said in court. However, the 15-year-old’s co-conspirator balked when he realized the plan was serious and reported the incident to school authorities.

It’s unclear how well-developed the plot was, Radzimski said. School investigators told Radzimski the boy was talking about “wolves and operation wolf pack.”

That kind of talk, as well as the planning, echoed the 2013 case, Radzimski said.

“When I started talking to the investigators there were a lot of commonalities,” Radzimski said in an interview.

According to court documents the 15-year-old was expelled from Deer Park high, which constitutes a violation of his probation. However, in court the grandmother said that expulsion was later reduced to a three-day suspension.

The 15-year-old tearfully addressed the judge, taking several moments to collect himself before speaking.

“In the days leading up to today I have been,” he said pausing and visibly crying, “I have been very scared, very confused, and I’ve just been going through a lot of pressure. And all I can say is I appreciate you taking the time to hear my case.”

Although sentenced to 30 days in detention, the boy will be allowed to visit his therapist, and will be allowed to continue with his online school work.

In February 2013, when he was 11, he’d planned with another student to kill a girl who was “really annoying.” His co-conspirator brought a pistol and a knife to Fort Colville Elementary School. A staff member found the weapons and intervened.

He was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in that case.

His grandmother told the court that he couldn’t go to the Chewelah School district because the girl involved in the 2013 incident attends that district. In order to enroll him in school they rented a house in the Deer Park School district.

“Do you understand how much your grandparents have done for you?” Judge Jessica Reeves asked the 15-year-old. “Can you understand that? What they’ve gone through?”

The boy nodded, and said he did understand.

“My hope is he turns it around and we don’t see him again,” Radzimski said.