Inspired by the infamous mass shooting in Columbine, Colorado, four Montreal teenagers came up with a very specific plan in June 2021 to gun down students at their Saint-Michel neighborhood high school. Their objective ? “Make history. Two accomplices pleaded guilty on Friday in the Youth Chamber.
Posted yesterday at 5:33 p.m.
As their trial was to begin next week, the last two defendants in this case preferred to admit their wrongdoing on Friday before Judge Paul Grzela. The 16-year-old boy and girl pleaded guilty to two counts: threatening to kill “students, teachers, staff and police” at their school and threatening to burn down their school. They were 15 at the time.
Their accomplices – also a boy and a girl – pleaded guilty to similar charges earlier this year and were given 15 months and 12 months probation respectively. They had also threatened to kill a particular classmate.
It should be noted that the identity of all the young people involved in this case is protected by law.
Their project germinated in the winter of 2021 following the viewing in a course of the documentary Bowling for Columbine, which focuses on the Columbine High School shooting in the United States. Twelve students and a teacher were shot dead by two assassins in 1999.
In mid-June 2021, the four accomplices exchanged many disturbing messages. The Crown prosecutor, Mr.e Claudie Marmet, read these messages mixing English and French. Note that “Girl 1” refers to the teenager who pleaded guilty on Friday.
Girl 1: “It’s today. Be ready. »
Girl 1: “Last day of school for some. Last day. »
Girl 2: “Yes. »
Girl 1: “I feel our luck. These peasants. »
Girl 2: “We are going to make history today. »
Boy 2: “Do I bring the gasoline that is in my garage? »
Girl 2: “Yes. »
Boy 2: “Be sure to bring something to light it up. »
Girl 1: “I took a Magnum, one each. I can already see it, bullet wounds. »
Girl 2: “Everywhere in the news. »
Girl 1: “Get ready for our party. It’s our judgment day [day of reckoning]. »
Girl 1: “Who are the cool kids now ? »
Boy 2: “Let’s go make history. Let them remember who we are. »
Girl 1: “Charges of attempted mass murder. »
[…]
Girl 2: “Don’t worry about it. Our plan is perfect. It will be the end of an era. »
Girl 1: “It will launch our era. »
A few days later, one of the boys sends his accomplices a document detailing the course of the killing minute by minute. The young people planned to launch their attack at noon, set fire to a bathroom and garbage cans, then wait for the students at the exit. “We are going to shoot people,” the document reads.
In their killing spree, the young people wanted to drag a student to the school microphone. “We’re going to shoot him in the balls while he sings. Listening to these sordid details, the relatives of the young victim began to cry in the courtroom.
For their latest stunt, the accomplices planned to go to the roof of the school and throw Molotov cocktails at the fleeing students. The document also detailed the equipment that each accomplice had to bring, namely a “shotgun”, a “Magnum”, an M16, Molotov cocktails and “enormous” speakers to play music at the top of their voices.
In September 2021, one of the accomplices (the teenager who pleaded guilty earlier this year) confessed everything to a social worker. The police arrested the four accomplices. “All of them have individually indicated that they did not intend to actually make these gestures,” said Mr.e Market.
A report will be prepared for sentencing submissions next December. Me Christine Brosseau and M.e Hughes Surprenant defends the two teenagers.