ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – An 18-year-old Seminole County high school student was arrested Tuesday on charges of attempted murder after police said he threatened a mass shooting at his school.
The Altamonte Springs Police Department said Emmanuel Costas, a student at Lake Brantley High School, was planning on opening fire on innocent classmates eating lunch in the school cafeteria.
Police said Costas sent a threatening text message to another student. That student's mother showed the message to police and he was removed from the classroom. Officers said they did not find any weapons, but have other proof he was going to carry out a mass killing, similar to Columbine High School.
"We can't say for 100 percent certainty whether he was going to go through with it, but we can say he put a lot of thought into this plan," Altamonte Springs Police Chief Michael Deal said. "There's a lot of things that were mentioned by him and documented by Costas that we certainly need to take this serious."
Costas told investigators he "respected" the people that carried out the Columbine massacre and told them he had created a detailed plan to randomly shoot students during lunch on April 17, 2012.
Police said Costas admitted to sending the text message, and also to posting similar threats on his Facebook page. He even counted down to his planned massacre, writing on his Facebook wall, "150 days left," then "149 days left" and "4/17/12 is gonna be a day to remember dat day will bring joy to me and saddness to otherz."
Once Costas realized police were investigating him, however, he apologized on his Facebook page where he initially made the threats. He wrote: "I'm am very sorry of tha stupid unexceptable threats that I used to harm people and there well beings I am much better now and there will be no more threats from me ever again. I promise"
Police said Costas was a loner and an outcast and very angry. He lives with his mother, but no one came to the door for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Costas is being held at the Seminole County Jail on no bond. Police said he confessed to writing the threats and to planning the shooting.
Costas is charged as an adult with attempted murder and written threats to kill or do bodily harm.