Co-workers may have foiled murder plot, police say

Court documents indicate a Ferris High School English teacher may owe her life to the presence of other adults when a student who planned to shoot her got within six feet on Thursday.

A police statement filed in Spokane County Juvenile Court says 14-year-old Jacob Carr – who had been expelled for threatening the teacher – went to her classroom with a loaded .32-caliber semiautomatic pistol in his coat pocket

The teacher, 34-year-old Michelle Klein-Coles, wasn’t in the classroom, but an unsuspecting teacher directed Carr to another room.

Carr said he found Klein-Coles working on a computer in what he believed was a staff room, according to police. Detective Don Giese reported that Carr got within six feet of Klein-Coles, intent on killing her and then himself.

According to Giese’s report, Carr said he hesitated because there were other adults in the room. He feared the other adults would prevent him from killing himself and he would spend the rest of his life in prison for murdering Klein-Coles.

There was no indication in Giese’s report that Klein-Coles saw Carr, who was attending Shadle Park High School and was under a court order to stay away from Ferris.

Carr allegedly told two detectives that he waited outside the room for more than an hour, trying to decide whether he should go ahead and shoot his former English teacher in the staff room or wait for an opportunity to catch her alone.

Eventually, Giese said, Carr stepped around a corner to get a drink of water and when he returned, he saw Klein-Coles walking out of the building.

Giese said Carr claimed at first that he intended only to kill himself. Even after admitting he planned to kill Klein-Coles, Carr said he was scared and not sure he could go through with it.

According to Giese, Carr admitted leaving a suicide note to his mother, Audrey Schmidt, stating in part: “I’m sorry I did this, but it had to be done. …Watch the news, it will be on there.”

Carr allegedly was upset because his stepfather told him he had heard Klein-Coles talking about him on a local radio show.

She reportedly spoke in the context of last week’s bloodbath at Red Lake High School in rural northern Minnesota, in which a 17-year-old boy killed nine people and wounded seven before killing himself. Klein-Coles talked about how her life had been affected by a death threat Carr made in a Dec. 23 e-mail.

Carr was arrested on Jan. 2 and expelled from Ferris after Klein-Coles checked her school e-mail and found Carr’s death threat.

According to Giese, the message said that on Jan. 3, “your house, all your belongings and you will be burned to the ground.”

The detective said Carr told officers he wrote the message because he was angry that Klein-Coles had “disrespected” him by telling him to be quiet while allowing other students to talk.

Carr pleaded guilty on Feb. 25 to harassment, and was sentenced to the 30 days of confinement he had already served, plus 48 hours of community service and six months of probation. Court records show no other convictions in Spokane County.

Although he was ordered to stay away from Klein-Coles and Ferris High School, Carr was allowed to enroll in Shadle Park High School.

Giese’s report indicates Carr left Shadle about 12:15 p.m. Thursday and went to his home in the 700 block of South Myrtle. Carr allegedly arrived shortly before 1 p.m. and got his stepfather’s pistol, firing a test shot into a mattress.

Carr also allegedly called a friend, whom Giese identified only as a juvenile with the initials B.W., and revealed his plan to kill Klein-Coles and himself.

The friend threatened to call police, and asked Carr to bring the gun to B.W.’s house, according to Giese. There is no indication in his report that B.W. actually called police or anyone else about the death threat.

Randy Howell, who was identified as Carr’s stepfather, called police about 4:10 p.m. to report that Carr had taken his gun and had left a suicide note. Howell told police he had called B.W. and was told Carr was on his way to B.W.’s house, but hadn’t arrived.

Howell also told police that Carr had been seen at Ferris about 3:15 p.m. Carr’s 12-year-old brother said he saw Carr at the school, but didn’t speak to him, Giese reported.

A police officer found Carr walking near the high school about 4:45 p.m. Thursday, carrying a .32-caliber pistol loaded with nine rounds. Police took him to the Sacred Heart Medical Center psychiatric ward for a mental evaluation, and the hospital released him without telling police, officers said.

Another officer re-arrested Carr at his home about 1 p.m. Friday without incident. He was booked into juvenile detention on suspicion of attempted first-degree murder.

Carr agreed Monday to remain in juvenile detention until his next court hearing, which Deputy Prosecutor William Reeves said might occur early next week. Reeves said he hadn’t decided Monday what charges to file against Carr or whether to ask a judge to transfer him to adult court.

Juveniles accused of serious, violent crimes don’t automatically go to adult court unless they are 16 or older. Carr turns 15 next month.

If convicted of attempted first-degree murder as a juvenile, Carr could get about 81/2 to nearly 11 months in a state juvenile facility.

Court records show that Carr is the oldest of four children from a troubled relationship between Schmidt, 34, and David Lawrence Carr, 40. In addition to his 12-year-old brother, Jacob Carr has two sisters, ages 13 and 11.

Schmidt got a restraining order against David Carr in August 1995, saying she asked him to leave their home because he beat, slapped and smothered her on various occasions. She told a judge that Carr drank to excess, and smoked marijuana and crack cocaine.

David Carr has two convictions for second-degree burglary.