The teenage suspects in a Columbine-inspired plot that was foiled at the Villages Charter School, have been identified by law enforcement.
Student Zachary Shearon, 13, was overheard telling a fellow student he was going to “shoot up the school on Friday,” according to information on an arrest affidavit released Friday afternoon by the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. Shearon warned some students to skip school on Friday, the day of the planned attack.
That vital information made its way to school resource officer Beatrice Ayala of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. On Thursday morning, Ayala and the school’s principal interviewed Shearon who said he had been dealing with bad depression and he was having thoughts of ending it all, according to the affidavit.
“I just want to die,” he said.
Shearon said he had discussed a Columbine-style attack wtih fellow student, 14-year-old Richard “Trey” Luther Hummer who resides in Wildwood. Shearon had talked to Hummer about the infamous Columbine school shooting and said, “Imagine if it was me doing the shooting.”
Shearon told Hummer they would meet in the gym and when he dropped a pencil, it meant “go.” Hummer asked what that meant, and Shearon said, “Shoot.” During the conversation, Hummer reportedly volunteered that his father owned a gun, but that it was always locked up.
A student reportedly heard Shearon telling other students to wear a white shirt on Friday and to use the code word, “Eugene”, to avoid being shot.
In another interview, students told investigators Shearon had attended a recent Holocaust tribute and showed up with Swastikas on his hands and Nazi logos on his arms. Shearon also posted on his Instagram account a photo of the Columbine school shooters with the caption, “The Columbine Basketball Team has not been the same since since it lost its two best shooters.”
Shearon is facing a charge of conspiracy to commit premeditated murder.
During the investigation, a Ruger pistol was found in a nightstand at Hummer’s home. He is facing a charge of public order crimes.
Both teens were taken into custody on Thursday.
