Scots teen who idolised Columbine killers & wanted to carry out ‘doomsday' mass shooting at school to be sentenced
GUN NUT IN DOCK Scots teen who idolised Columbine killers & wanted to carry out 'doomsday' mass shooting at school to be sentenced
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A SCOTS teenager who wanted to carry out a mass shooting at his school is to be sentenced.
Felix Winter, now aged 18, "idolised" the killers behind the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado in the United States in 1999, which saw 12 students and a teacher gunned down.
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Winter pleaded guilty to a breach of the peace and a charge under the Terrorism Act
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At the time, Columbine was the deadliest shooting at a high school in US history
Credit: Getty
The Edinburgh teen repeatedly spoke about doing the same at his own secondary, describing the 'Doomsday' when he would 'clear it out'.
A large-scale police probe was sparked in the summer of 2023 after a social media photo of him at school in full combat gear and carrying an imitation gun caused panic among pupils and parents.
He had already been referred to a UK-wide programme designed to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.
Winter pleaded guilty to a breach of the peace and a charge under the Terrorism Act.
The crimes spanned between June 2022 and July 2023.
Classmates recalled how the boy "spoke excitedly and with considerable enthusiasm" when he talked about Columbine and other school shootings.
He "sympathised" with the pair behind it - Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris - and would copy how they had dressed.
One girl said he "idolised school shooters in America".
Defence KC Shelach McCall told the court in March that a professor argued it was his condition, rather than extremism, that drove his obsession with school shootings.
Ms McCall said Winter had made a 'marked improvement' since his offending.
The Columbine massacre: 25 Years Later
She said: 'He has expressed regret and recognises that he didn't previously appreciate how his behaviour was impacting on others.
"He accepts in the context of his plea of guilty and his remarks about school shootings in 2022, him dressing in that costume and carrying that in a school would generate alarm to those who came upon it but this was not his intent."
Winter will appear at the High Court in Glasgow today.
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