A Hilliard Davidson High School student is in custody after prosecutors said he was planning a school shooting.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien says another student came forward and told a school resource officer that 16-year-old sophomore John Staley III was plotting an attack. O’Brien says police found a detailed map of the school that Staley planned to use in the attack, and they say he tried to recruit other students to help him.
“Today is certainly day that we can be thankful for a student who did the right thing and came forward,” Hilliard Police Chief Robert Fisher said at a press conference on Tuesday.
“This could have been a serious tragedy that we have seen, heard and read about in other parts of the country,” said Prosecutor O’Brien.
Police say Staley was suspended from school last week and later arrested near the Ohio State University campus.
Police said Staley is being held in the Franklin County juvenile detention center.
He’s charged with conspiracy to commit murder and is due in court October 17.
