Three Royal Valley students accused of planning 'Columbine-style'

"We don't know how serious they were. We can't delve into their minds. We just couldn't wait."

--- CHIEF DETECTIVE STEVEN RUPERT, of the Jackson County Sheriff's Department

The arrests and the possibility

of such an attack on the school,

which has an enrollment of about 300,

caught students and area residents

off guard.

--- Greg Lahann/The Capital-Journal

- Related story

and photo

School resource officer played vital role in uncovering alleged plot, Across Kansas,

page 7-A

- CJOnline.com

Go online for audio and video from the Jackson County Sheriff's Department news conference.

By STEVE SWARTZ

The Capital-Journal

HOYT --- Three Royal Valley High School students who allegedly had planned a "Columbine-style" assault on their school and classmates were in court, not class, Monday.

The trio, an 18-year-old and two juvenile males, were arrested Friday after raids on residences in Mayetta and Hoyt netted deputies bomb-making materials, hand-drawn floor plans of the school, a modified assault rifle, ammunition, and white supremacist and Nazi drawings. Also taken from the homes were three black trench coats similar to those the Columbine High School killers wore and for which they dubbed themselves the "Trench Coat Mafia."

Charged late Monday afternoon with conspiracy to commit aggravated arson were Richard Bradley Jr., 18, of Hoyt; James Lopez, 16; and Jason Moss, 17; County Attorney Doug Fisher said. Lopez also was charged with aggravated intimidation of a witness.

Chief Detective Steven Rupert, of the Jackson County Sheriff's Department, said the suspects had discussed the Columbine attack and allegedly planned to make a similar attack on Royal Valley, possibly at a major school event, such as a dance.

"I would guess it would be nothing short of what happened at Columbine" had the three carried out an attack, Rupert said.

On April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., two teen-age boys killed 12 fellow students and a teacher and wounded 23 people before committing suicide in the worst school shooting rampage in U.S. history.

The arrests and the possibility of such an attack on the school, which has an enrollment of about 300, caught students and Hoyt residents off guard.

"Yeah, it floors me," said Larry Cheek, who has lived in the town for about 30 years and has two grandchildren attending the school.

"I certainly thought that would never happen up there. I'm dumbfounded," he said.

Ashley Hainline, a 15-year-old freshman at Royal Valley, said she hadn't heard about the arrests until the noon hour Monday after television reports of the arrests started being aired.

"He was always nice to me, I know that," she said of Bradley.

Her friend, Jenny, who preferred that her last name not be used, also said she got along with Bradley, whom she called Ricky.

"I never expected him to do anything like that," Jenny said. "You could joke with him and it wouldn't bother him."

Detective Rupert called the three loners and said "they hung with no particular group."

"He's (Bradley) into that Metallica stuff," said Hainline, referring to a heavy-metal rock band.

Asked about Confederate flags that were seized from the homes by deputies, the girls said in unison, "Everybody's got them."

Information provided to the school principal Thursday by another student led to the issuance of search warrants and the raids Friday, Rupert said. The student told the principal, and later school resource officer Matt Brewer, that there were explosives being built and detonated by the suspects. They had allegedly been making bombs with Fourth of July fireworks, pipe bombs with fertilizer and "relatively harmless" dry ice bombs, Rupert said.

"We don't know how serious they were. We can't delve into their minds. We just couldn't wait," he said.

Last week wasn't the first time the school resource officer and authorities had investigated a student's activities. Superintendent Marceta Reilly said that in November, a teacher told the principal a student was writing inflammatory things, so Brewer began an investigation.

In January, the school received a call on its hotline about the troubling activities of at least one student. As a result of that call, the school was searched and a search warrant was issued for a home. Nothing came of the searches, Reilly said.

Despite the white supremacist materials seized, including the skull of a bobcat that had swastikas drawn on it, the three apparently weren't targeting minorities, as was the case at Columbine.

"It did not seem to be racially motivated at all," Rupert said.

Of the 900 students enrolled in the district, about 20 percent are minorities, said the superintendent. Most of those students are American Indian.

Fisher, the prosecutor, said Bradley was being held on $10,000 bond, and the juveniles were being held at Topeka Juvenile Correctional Facility. Bradley's preliminary hearing is set for Feb. 15. The juvenile's adjudication hearing will be March 1. Fisher said trying the juveniles as adults is an option.

Steve Swartz can be reached at (785) 295-1194 or state@cjonline.com.

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