
HUTCHINSON– Two of five teenagers accused of conspiring to carry out a shooting at Hutchinson High School were back in court Tuesday morning. Takota Bowman, 16, entered a “not guilty” plea to the charges.
The attorney for Dominic Collins, 16, asked that he be released from custody, arguing that his client had no history with the court or history of violence.
Attorney Mike Robinson also argued that he has done well in detention. But Assistant District Attorney Cheryl Allen argued against it citing things the five had posted on their facebook page called “KYOD,” which stands for “kill yourself or die.”
She says they called themselves the “Kleybold’s.” for the Dylan Kleybold, one of the shooters in the Columbine massacre at a high school in Colorado.
She says there are “disturbing similarities” in what these teens posted on facebook, and on what they wanted to do at Hutch High and what happened at Columbine High School in 1999.
She says they wanted to plant propane bombs in the cafeteria, then shoot people as they left, thinking they could kill as many as 200 students.
She said in another posting, the teens said they wanted to drive a semi through the school.
She said they should stay in custody even though school is out because they could attack other things.
The teens deny they intended to hurt anyone saying it was all just a joke, but the state isn’t taking the posting as just a joke.
All five teens are charged with solicitation to commit first-degree murder and criminal threat. They were arrested in April after Hutchinson High School officials were alerted to postings on facebook that threatened a mass murder at the school.
They have all been held in juvenile detention since their arrests.
Hearings Tuesday afternoon for Jake Eels, Tylar Cabral, both 16, and Andre Harris, 17, were all continued.
Still to be decided is whether the affidavits to the search warrants issued to law enforcement will be unsealed.