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Oct 27, 2007 9:34 am US/Eastern

Teen Confesses To Columbine-Style Attack Plot

PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3 / AP) ― A 14-year-old boy accused of plotting a Columbine-style attack on a suburban Philadelphia high school admitted Friday that he illegally stockpiled weapons and will be held in juvenile custody for as long as seven years.

Dillon Cossey's admission came about two weeks after authorities searched his Plymouth Township home and found a 9 mm rifle, about 30 air-powered guns modeled to look like higher-powered weapons, swords, knives, a bomb-making book, videos of the 1999 Columbine attack in Colorado and violence-filled notebooks.

Cossey tried to recruit another boy in the plan, which included chaining shut the doors at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School, Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. said Friday.

Cossey, who was home-schooled, admitted to three crimes -- criminal solicitation, risking a catastrophe and possession of an instrument of crime -- in Montgomery County juvenile court. He will be placed in juvenile custody. The longest he can remain there is until his 21st birthday.

Dillon Cossey will receive regular evaluations by Judge Paul Tressler.

"I'm going to make it clear to you and your parents, if you get to the point where you're ready to get home, but they're not worthy of having you, I'll send you somewhere else" such as to a relative or foster home, Tressler told Cossey.

Authorities accused Cossey's mother, Michele, of helping him build his weapons stash. She is charged with illegally buying her son a .22-caliber handgun, a .22-caliber rifle and a 9 mm semiautomatic rifle with a laser scope.

Cossey admitted telling a friend that he wanted to pull off an attack similar to the 1999 assault on Columbine High School in Colorado, saying, "the world would be better off without bullies," according to Castor.

Castor described part of the teen's chilling plan saying he would, "use a car as a base of operations for ammunition, chain the doors closed and then begin the attack with a rocket launcher and then use the grenades and the rifle."

Cossey, who last attended public school in the seventh grade, took the stand and answered generally yes-no questions.

His attorney, J. David Farrell, read from a letter that Cossey wrote earlier this week.

"First off, I would like to apologize because of the trouble I caused," the boy wrote. "I realize now that I was not thinking correctly. I want everyone to know that what was in my room does not change what was in my heart."

Castor said Cossey described to police being bullied only a few times, but Farrell believes it was more frequent.

"My investigation has really disclosed that he has been the subject of protracted and profound peer abuse his whole life. It drove him from school," Farrell said.

Authorities do not believe the teen was close to pulling off an attack; he had no ammunition and the teen he approached was the first he had asked for assistance.

Farrell said people who know Cossey don't think he would have followed through.

"I think it was largely a fantasy that was beginning to cross the line," Farrell said.
The District Attorney said the teen idolized the two teens in the Columbine shooting, going so far as to nickname one of his own guns "Reb" after Eric Harris.

The mother bought the semiautomatic rifle at a gun show on Sept. 23 and provided police with a receipt, investigators have said. The teenager said the two .22-caliber weapons were stored at a friend's house.

Police, who searched the boy's home with his parents' permission, also discovered seven explosive devices Castor has described as homemade grenades: plastic containers filled with BBs to which gunpowder could be added. Authorities said one was operable and the others in the process of being assembled.

The teen's admission spares him from going to trial. He will be held until sentencing at a later date.
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(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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