Court hearing pushed for teen accused of planning Colorado Springs school shooting

Annika Schmidt, The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
·2 min read

May 4—A 19-year-old who was arrested in March and accused of planning a mass shooting at schools in Colorado Springs appeared in court Wednesday afternoon, where a judge approved a request by the defense to delay a hearing.

At the preliminary hearing on June 30, which was originally scheduled for Wednesday, a judge will determine if there is enough evidence to bring the case to trial. The preliminary hearing will be held in Kiowa at the Elbert County Courthouse.

Court records show William Whitworth is charged with attempted first-degree murder after deliberation, attempted first-degree murder with extreme indifference, criminal mischief, menacing and interference with staff, faculty or students of educational institutions.

Whitworth is being held at the Elbert County jail, where Whitworth reportedly indicated to an employee in April a continued plan to commit a mass shooting at a school in Academy District 20, where Whitworth was a student at three schools for a total of nine months between 2014 and 2016.

At a hearing April 13, a judge raised Whitworth's bond to $750,000 from $75,000. The mandatory protection order conditions were also modified to include GPS monitoring and no contact with any public or private school property or institution in Colorado.

Whitworth, who is transitioning to female, was arrested March 31 and accused of planning a mass shooting when investigators found instructions on how to build homemade bombs and a whiteboard with the floor plan to Timberview Middle School in Whitworth's bedroom, according to arrest records obtained by The Gazette.

The affidavit states that Prairie Hills Elementary and Pine Creek High School, both in Colorado Springs, were also listed as "targets" in one of Whitworth's notebooks, which contained a "detailed" list of people "to be killed." Investigators did not find any weapons in the home, but they did find a liquid that is used to clean firearms.

Deputies also found a "manifesto" with the names of mass shooters, political commentators and more while searching Whitworth's home, according to the affidavit. A notebook was found with instructions on how to make firearms using a 3D printer and how to make homemade explosives. Whitworth admitted to watching a YouTube video on how to build a detonator, according to the affidavit.

Law enforcement originally responded to the home after Whitworth's sister reported Whitworth behaving violently and referring to school shootings.

Deputies found Whitworth lying in bed, drunk, in a room piled with trash that had several holes in the wall, according to the affidavit.

When authorities asked why Whitworth wanted to shoot up a school, Whitworth said: "No specific reason." Whitworth also admitted to being "about a third of the way from doing it (committing a mass shooting)," the affidavit states.