4 Arrested in Alleged Plot to Open Fire in Ohio School

CLEVELAND —  Four white students were arrested and seven others questioned in what was described as a racially motivated plot to carry out a Columbine-style massacre at their predominantly black high school Friday.

Mayor Michael R. White closed South High for the day after the parents of a student tipped off authorities. White said that police seized two guns from one student’s house and that the group planned to get weapons from a gang. No guns or explosives were found at the school.

“This was more than cafeteria banter,” the mayor said.

One of the students questioned, Sarah Jedd, 15, said the four arrested, all boys, had maps of South High with positions for each shooter.

“They said they were going to break into people’s houses, stores, whatever it took for them to get the supplies they needed,” she said.

Asked about a possible motive for the violence, White said that police believe race was a factor.

Dan Shields, an attorney for two of the students questioned, said one of them had a map of the school only because he was new to South High and was getting in trouble for being late to class.

White would not give details of the alleged plot or confirm a report by the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper that the arrested students, whose names were not disclosed, told police they planned to use guns and homemade explosives to kill teachers, administrators and fellow students.

The newspaper reported that the massacre was planned for just before noon, when students would open fire in the cafeteria and the principal’s office. The students also planned a suicidal shootout with police in a school courtyard, the newspaper said.

Those details were reminiscent of the April 20 massacre at Columbine High in Littleton, Colo. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, scattered gunfire and bombs, killing 13 and wounding at least 23 before killing themselves.

Authorities said they did not know why the students chose Friday for the attack but noted that it was the day of the school’s homecoming. The dance and football game were canceled.

The four students arrested were charged with inciting violence, false alarm, aggravated menacing, ethnic intimidation and inducing panic. If convicted, they could be imprisoned until they are 21.

Dan Bailey, who joined other parents and students outside the school Friday morning, said police arrested his 14-year-old son, Adam, and searched the teenager’s room, taking a computer and some disks.

Bailey said his son had never been in trouble but “hung out with the wrong crowd.”