Trial set to begin for teens accused of plotting attack

WINDER, Ga. - Those who knew the two teenagers accused of plotting a killing spree at their middle school describe them as normal 14-year-olds.

Police arrested the two boys May 14 after classmates at Russell Middle School told a school resource officer of the plan to kill a teacher and anyone else who got in their way on the last day of school.

The boys - identified in court only by their first names, Adam and Joseph - were scheduled to go on trial Monday in Juvenile Court. They are charged with conspiracy to commit murder, making terroristic threats and disruption of a public school.

But some say the whole thing is probably the result of youthful boasting that went too far.

"I think a lot of it is just talk," said Ann Moore, who baby-sits her grandchildren in the neighborhood where one of the boys lives. "I don't think they would have done it."

David McGee, the principal at Russell Middle School, said the two were fairly typical students.

"They had a group of friends you saw them with," McGee said. "You wouldn't classify them as anti-social or loners or anything."

Neither of them had a history of serious discipline problems, said Ron Saunders, who is superintendent of Barrow County Schools.

But Winder police have described the boys' plans as "a Columbine-style killing with guns" and said the two also planned to kill themselves.

On April 20, 1999, Columbine High School students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 classmates and a teacher before committing suicide in Littleton, Colo.

And prosecutors have said the two were doing more than just making idle threats. During a hearing two weeks ago, the prosecution introduced testimony from a female student who said one of the boys showed her a gun hidden in his locker on May 13. And a search of the boys' homes by police found guns at one home and diagrams of the school at another.

News of arrests frightened parents, many of whom kept their children home on May 21, the last day of school. Attendance was down 50 percent that day, officials said.

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Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com