FL Man Charged With Planning School Mass Shootings

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports:

Police officers pulled over a 19-year-old recent graduate from Okeechobee High School because the headlight on his truck was out. Then they found handwritten pages detailing plans to kill everyone at his high school.

Henry Horton IV, of Okeechobee, was arrested Thursday by Palm Beach County Sheriff’s detectives after they uncovered his plans for mass killings at multiple locations, according to a probable cause affidavit, discovering that he had done “recon” at two targets in Parkland, including Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Asked why he would attack Stoneman Douglas, the site of a school massacre that killed 17 and injured 17 in 2018, the affidavit says, Horton replied, “for attention or fame.”

West Palm Beach’s NBC affiliate reports:

The affidavit said Horton was planning on executing his attack on his 22nd birthday, which is Jan. 2, 2026. Investigators said Horton also had plans to drive to Miami to a church named “El Rey Jesus” and go on a “stabbing spree” and kill another 10 people.

They said he wanted to conduct these attacks by purchasing a M1911 handgun and an AK-47. The suspect’s father said his son had checked himself into a mental institution and was sent to be with his mom in Okeechobee County to continue treatment.

Horton IV was arrested Thursday and is being held at the main Palm Beach County jail on a $1 million bond. He faces a charge of written threats to kill or do harm.

19-year-old planned multiple mass shootings, did ‘recon’ at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, officials say https://t.co/XuNaat4MSK

— South Florida Sun Sentinel (@SunSentinel) October 7, 2023