Two Pennsylvania teens were arrested by the authorities after they were caught allegedly planning a school shooting following a trespassing incident at Westmont Hilltop High School in Johnstown. One of the arrested teens was previously barred from entering the school premises.
The incident comes days after Ethan Crumbley, a 15-year-old carried a mass shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan killing four students and grievously injuring six others. Crumbley has been charged as an adult with murder, terrorism, and other crimes in the attack.
Trespassing Report From a Concerned Parent Led to the Arrest
The arrested teens have been identified as Logan Jack Pringle, 17, and Preston Robert Hinebaugh, 16. The duo will be tried as adults as per the Cambria County District Attorney's Office.
Daily Beast reported that the Upper Yoder Township Police Department arrested the duo while investigating a trespassing report received from a concerned parent against the two teens.
The teens had trespassed Westmont Hilltop High School in Johnstown on Wednesday. According to the outlet, Hinebaugh had allowed Pringle to enter the school building despite him being barred from the from the school by a court order.
According to the District Attorney's Office, multiple search warrants were issued in the 100 block of Forest Edge Drive following the trespassing incident.
According to the report, the investigating authorities seized five weapons from Hinebaugh's home, including a pump-action shotgun and four AR-15 style semi-automatic rifles. While the found the teens in the planning phase of a school shooting they could not ascertain the motive for the same, as per the report.
Pringle and Hinebaugh Clicked a Photo Inside School Premises
US News reported that Chief Donald Hess of the Upper Yoder Township police department said that the 17-year-old was barred from the school following an alleged prior threat "to shoot up" the high school.
Hinebaugh also posted a picture with Pringle standing inside the school premise which according to Hess was a "kind of ominous-like" message about his return.
Following the arrest the 16-year-old has been charged with the first-degree felonies of conspiracy to commit terrorism and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, third-degree felony of conspiracy to commit criminal trespass and possession of a firearm by a minor, a first-degree misdemeanor. Pringle is charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault. He was also charged with an attempt to commit aggravated assault.
In a statement, Westmont Hilltop School District Superintendent Thomas Mitchell said that there were no issues during the breach. "Our students and employees were not in danger, but the recent violent acts in Michigan remind us that we all need to remain vigilant to keep one another safe," the statement read.
