7th-grader's gun jams after he shoots into school ceiling

Police say boy had a plan to terrorize

JOPLIN, MO. -- Fascinated by the Columbine bloodbath, a 13-year-old boy in a dark green trench coat and mask carried an assault rifle into his school Monday, pointed it at students and fired a shot into a ceiling before the weapon jammed, authorities said. No one was hurt.

"Please don't make me do this," he was quoted as telling administrators before police arrested him and thwarted what they called a "well-thought-out plan" to terrorize his school.

Police said a note in the student's backpack indicated he had planted an explosive in the school, but no bombs were found.

Lt. Geoff Jones said the boy's motives were unclear. School officials said the student had no major disciplinary problems.

The seventh-grader, whose name was not released, pointed the gun at two students inside Joplin Memorial Middle School but was confronted by an administrator who tried to talk him into putting the gun down, Jones said.

The boy refused and fired a shot into the ceiling of an entryway, police said. He tried to continue firing but the rifle jammed, Jones said. The student then left the building.

"We don't believe he was trying to fire at administrators or students," Officer Curt Farmer said.

Officers arrested the teen behind a nearby building. Police described his weapon as a Mac-90, a replica of an AK-47 assault rifle.

Superintendent Jim Simpson said police told him the boy had a fascination with the Columbine High School shooting that left 15 people dead near Littleton, Colo., in 1999.

The student was wearing a trench coat, as had the student gunmen at Columbine, and had a T-shirt over his head with eye holes cut out, Farmer said.

Along with the note saying an explosive had been placed in the school, the boy's backpack held military manuals, instructions on assembling an improvised explosive device and detailed drawings of the school, Farmer said.

"This was quite well thought-out," Farmer said. "He had been planning this for a long time."

Gun came from home

Jones said the gun belonged to the boy's parents, who kept the weapon in a safe at home. The parents told police their son apparently knew the combination to the gun safe. Farmer said it is not uncommon for people in the area to own assault weapons.

The shooting happened about 7:45 a.m., 10 minutes before the start of classes.

The school was closed while police and Missouri State Highway Patrol officers searched the building with bomb-sniffing dogs.

Simpson said authorities did not know whether others were involved.

"A lot of the kids were scared," eighth-grader Deron Moore said. "After they said on the intercom that there was someone with a gun, I kind of went into shock."

Joplin, which has about 41,000 residents, is on the Kansas state line about 140 miles south of Kansas City, Mo.

Schools across the country have been on alert since three deadly school shootings took place in three states in a week.

In Pennsylvania, church bells tolled Monday morning in remembrance of the five Amish girls killed at their one-room schoolhouse a week earlier. The survivors of that attack will eventually resume classes in another building, which is already being stocked with donations of stuffed animals and school supplies.