TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Dade City Police Say Boy Planned School Shooting Spree

ADVERTISEMENT

By LISA A. DAVIS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 28, 2008

Updated: 08/28/2008 04:32 pm

  George Paul Adams

DADE CITY - A 16-year-old boy was arrested at Moore-Mickens Education Center by police Wednesday morning, accused of making threats on his MySpace page and plotting to shoot up his school.

Police say George Paul Adams of 38610 Camden Ave., Zephyrhills, got his hands on a copy of the center's evacuation map from his fifth-period art class and used it to start mapping a plan for a shooting spree.

It indicates he planned to go from the school office to the cafeteria and then to multiple classrooms, police said.

A report states that Adams sketched arrows and staging areas on the map throughout the school, which is at 38301 Martin Luther King Blvd., a report states.

"I really really hate everyone at school they mare [sic] me want to do wut [sic] I did last year but really kill," a blog posted Monday on his MySpace page states. His mood, according to the Web site: "enraged."

Adams told authorities he wrote the comment on his Web page because he was angry for being held back a grade, the report states.

The teen, police said, told some students about his plot. Dade City Police Chief Raymond Velboom said one of those students told his sister, and the sister contacted the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.

The sheriff's office then notified the Dade City Police Department, which immediately investigated, Velboom said.

Police found more than 28 firearms at Adams' home. Velboom said those weapons belong to Adams' grandfather and were kept in a locked gun cabinet. The cabinet door is glass. Accessing the guns would have been simple, the chief said.

Adams was charged with making written threats to kill or do bodily harm and disrupting a school function. These are felony charges.

He last used his MySpace page Wednesday, listing his mood as "depressed."

Velboom wouldn't say what Adams' meant by his blog comment about what he "did last year," other than to say it referred to an incident at another school Adams attended before transferring to Moore-Mickens.

The chief praised the student and sister who were responsible for letting law enforcement know about Adams' comments. Velboom said students in such cases often are accused of being snitches, but in reality they are doing the right thing.

"It got into the right circles, and all the pieces came together, and it worked like it is supposed to work," Velboom said.

Steve Cox, principal at Moore-Mickens, declined to comment because of the ongoing investigation.

Moore-Mickens Education Center is part of the county school system and offers vocational, adult education, dropout prevention and other programs. The school has 337 students.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083 or ldavis@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT