A teenager has admitted to putting the lives of faculty, staff, and students at a Perth college in peril after firing rounds into a classroom, raising worries of a school shooting similar to those in the US.
The 15-year-old boy, who is unnamed for legal reasons, told a buddy he was going to “shoot up the school” in May when he brought two guns to the Atlantis Beach Baptist College in Two Rocks, which is located roughly 70 km north of Perth.
The teacher and children scurried for cover as the youngster shot three rounds from a parked car, hitting two structures, including a demountable classroom. The school was placed on lockdown and the teen was apprehended by highly armed police.
On Monday, the kid entered a guilty plea to eight offences in the Children’s Court, two of which were behaving unlawfully with the purpose to cause harm.
In addition, he acknowledged having three convictions for illegal gun possession, driving without a licence, firing a handgun in order to instill fear or danger, and possessing a prohibited weapon.
One count of each of unlawfully acting with intent to hurt and possessing a restricted weapon was dismissed by the prosecution.
Former premier Mark McGowan described the incident as “the sort of thing that you see on television in the United States” and said that “you’d never think this would happen in Australia,” shocking the people of Perth.
Boys and girls attend the coeducational Atlantis Beach Baptist College for kindergarten through year ten. On February 23, the teenager is expected back in the same courtroom to be sentenced.
