Students Who Reported Disturbing Snapchat Messages Prevented Potential Mass Shooting At University

Florida police have arrested an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University student for allegedly ‘plotting to shoot up the campus’ on the final day of term before winter break.

19-year-old John Hagins threatened to carry out an attack similar to the shooting incident at Columbine High School in 1999, which left 15 people dead, including the two gunmen.

Officers reportedly got involved with the incident after two university students saw concerning messages on a group chat, which they then reported to the university’s campus security team.

Speaking during a press conference, Daytona Beach Police Department Chief Jakari Young stated that, after campus security notified emergency services at 4.10 am, police rushed to the suspect’s residence, where they detained him as he was leaving his apartment.

Hagins’ intention had been to go out for shooting practice, before heading to the university campus. He has since been taken into custody, where he confessed to having made the statements

Young said:

He may want to claim that it was all a joke and he wasn’t serious about it. But we don’t find anything funny about discussing a mass shooting on campus. He said once he was done at that firing range, he was going to campus to enact a Columbine.

Hagins has now been charged with making written threats to injure or kill, first-degree homicide and terrorism. He will now be held without bond for each of these three charges before making his first appearance before a judge.