A Maryland teen has been arrested after authorities uncovered a school shooting plot, authorities announced Friday.
Andrea Yeh, 18, of Rockville, also known as Alex, is accused of writing a 129-page manifesto detailing her strategy for the mass shooting at Thomas Wootton High School in Montgomery County. Ye was arrested on Wednesday.
According to authorities, investigators uncovered the conspiracy suspicions through an investigation of Ye’s writings and internet searches. In his manifesto, Ye allegedly wrote about targeting elementary schools and expressed his desire to “be famous.”
“You also wrote that you would rather be a serial killer than a mass murderer because serial killers are more glorified,” Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones told reporters at a press conference Friday. .
Arrested for murder of DC police officer in 2017
Andrea Yeh, known as Alex, was arrested on suspicion of planning mass shootings at high schools and elementary schools, authorities said. (Montgomery County Police Department)
In his manifesto, Ye said authorities wanted to target his former elementary school because “small children are easy targets.” Authorities say he spent time in Discord chats with other people glorifying school shootings.
“He clearly had mental health issues, and it’s worth looking at when we could have known that or when we should have intervened,” Montgomery County Executive Mark Elrich said. I think there is,” he said. “We could have intervened at the right time, but it was very late in the process. Hopefully this will lead us to take a deeper look at what we are doing for mental health support. It will lead to this.”
Yeh, a former student at Wootton High School, is also said to have targeted the elementary school as a possible shooter. Ye was hospitalized in December 2022 after threatening to “shoot up the school,” but clinicians reported the following month that the boy was talking about “suicide by cop.”
Authorities first learned about Ye in March when a person who knew him shared his manifesto at a Baltimore County police psychiatric facility. The tipster is referred to as “Witness-One” in charging documents. Ye claimed the manifesto was a fictional account of a school shooting.
The tipster told investigators he noticed similarities between the story’s transgender protagonist and Ye, according to the documents. His internet search history revealed search terms such as “shooting ranges near me” and searches for school shootings, including the Sandy Hook, Connecticut, and Parkland, Florida, massacres.
The front of Wootton High School in Rockville, Maryland. (Google Maps)
Jones said Ye’s father’s gun was found during a search of the family home, but Ye did not appear to have access to the weapon.
Elrich mentioned Maryland’s strict gun laws, saying, “This is because of the lack of access to guns, which means people can’t get guns when they want them, and they can’t act quickly when they want to.” It’s possible that it wasn’t.” .
Although Ye was officially enrolled at Wootton High School, he had not actually attended Montgomery County Public Schools since the fall of 2022. fox dc report. He is taking lessons through the virtual program “Online Pathways to Graduation.”
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Yeh was charged with threatening to commit gang assault and was currently being held at the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit awaiting a bail hearing.
Officials said security has been increased at schools throughout Montgomery County, especially Wootton High School.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
