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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Accused Freeman school shooter Caleb Sharpe drew an “X” over some student pictures in yearbook

When Spokane County sheriff’s detectives searched Caleb Sharpe’s home, they found he had marked out the faces of fellow classmates in the Freeman High School yearbook. “X = kill,” Detective Mike Drapeau wrote in court records.

The search warrant returns were made public Monday following a shooting last Wednesday when a boy, identified as Sharpe, opened fire in the hallway of Freeman High School and killed 15-year-old Sam Strahan and wounded three girls.

Soon after officials arrested Sharpe, 15, detectives searched his family home overlooking the Hangman Valley. They found a Freeman yearbook inside the second drawer of Sharpe’s dresser. The records do not identify the students who had their faces targeted.

Under clothes in front of the closet, detectives found what they called a “practice Molotov cocktail.” But they did not elaborate.

In the drawer of a side table, detectives found “papers, notes and names” and one drawer below in the same side table, they found handwritten notes titled “My first novel book.”

In a binder in front of a dresser, detectives also found a “notebook with manifesto list of dads ammo.” On the floor of the closet, they found a copy of “Assassin’s Creed Notebook” with a list of chemicals.

The investigators also found a partial case of .223-caliber ammunition on top of the gun safe in the home. In total, they found 34 boxes that contained 20 rounds each of the .223 ammunition. Witnesses said Sharpe first tried to use an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle but it jammed when he tried to load it.

Freeman High School re-opened Monday for the first time since the shooting. Superintendent Randy Russell previously invited parents to spend as much time as they wanted at the school so that they and students feel safe.

On Friday, Russell confirmed that the school had suspended Sharpe after another student took a note Sharpe wrote to a counselor. Protocol called for the student to pass a mental evaluation, which he did. Wednesday was his first day back at school.

Spokane County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Deputy Mark Gregory would not comment on whether any of the photos that had been crossed out depicted any of the students who were shot.

Russell also did not comment about the yearbook photos.

Reporter Eli Francovich contributed to this report.