Minnesota teen who planned school massacre: 'I think I'm really mentally ill'

[~primetime~]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/25/us/min...iew/index.html

(CNN) -- John David LaDue readily admits he came from a good home and says he was never bullied.

But something in him drove the 17-year-old Minnesotan toward an obsessively detailed plot -- one in which, he said, he wanted to kill his family, set off bombs at a school and then shoot students.

"I think I'm really mentally ill," he told police. "And no one has noticed. I've been trying to hide it."

Transcripts of LaDue's police interviews were released Tuesday. They fill more than 140 pages.

And they offer, in his own words, a chilling glimpse of a teenage boy and his homicidal mindset -- and how far he had wanted to go to act on it.

LaDue was arrested in April before he could carry out his attack. He sits in jail facing numerous charges, including attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

CNN does not usually publish the names of minors charged with crimes but is naming LaDue in this case because his name has been widely reported in his community.

Despising Lanza

LaDue's mother told police she had no idea he was allegedly plotting to kill his family.

Yet, he said, he plotted right under her nose. He made no effort to hide anything. He told police they'd find three live bombs in a box on the floor next to his bed.

LaDue said his main target was Waseca Junior/Senior High School. But first, he said, he was going to kill his father, mother and sister.

"They did nothing wrong; I just wanted as many victims as possible," he told officers who questioned him.

He said he wanted his attack to be more effective than Adam Lanza's shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary.

He had a low opinion of Lanza, he said, because he shot small children.

"I didn't want to be known as a guy who would go to a place with a bunch of kindergartner(s)," he told police. He thought it more honorable to kill students his own age.

LaDue had studied mass killers in the United States dating back to the 1920s and rated them on the intensity of their crimes, he said.

He had a pecking order of killers he admired. One of his favorites used explosives to kill people at a school.

Another Columbine

After slaying his family, the teen, who idealized the Columbine school shooters in particular, allegedly wanted to set a fire.

The arson, however, would only be a diversion to tie up emergency responders while he carried out the main plot at the school, police said.

He'd planned to set off "numerous bombs" during the lunch hour at Waseca Junior/Senior High School, then kill the school resource officer.

Then he'd shoot at students until police officers arrived. He wanted to die but thought it cowardly to turn the gun on himself the way Lanza did.

"I wanted to get taken down by the SWAT," he told officers, according to the newly released documents. "I really wanted to get out of this place."

Plan foiled

Luckily, a witness thwarted his plan when she saw the 17-year-old tending to a storage locker, where he kept his stash of bomb-making materials.
She dialed 911.

Officers arrived to find LaDue in the locker surrounded by an assortment of gunpowder, pyrotechnic chemicals, ball bearings and a pressure cooker, police said.

Mental torment

LaDue asked his interviewers to let him see a psychiatrist over his state of mind.

In the eighth grade, he was a model student, whose report card was filled with top grades, he said.

A year later, his thoughts began to turn dark.

"I started having homicidal ... thoughts about some people in my school," he told officers.

I thought this was an interesting read. I believe what this kid is saying for the most part, I think he is being honest, and to me this just backs up the obvious when it comes to school shootings of this nature, it isn't video games, it isn't bad parenting, it isn't being bullied, etc...it is just an unfortunate case of a human that was born with a sociopathic screw loose. That is what these kids have in common, they are just mentally ill, plain and simple.

[Dresta]

Most of them tend to be on some kind of medication that ****s with your brain as well, which is never a good thing for a teenager, and often exacerbates their mental instability.

[~primetime~]

Yep IMO meds that affect brain chemistry should be an absolute last resort to teens or preteens...their brains are still developing rapidly. But that is probably just me thinking like an evil 'puritan' lol.

Although I have no idea if this kid was actually on any meds. If he is being honest about being seen as "normal" I would guess he was med free.

[RidonKs]

you might enjoy reading this prime

http://projects.thestar.com/what-michael-stewart-did/

it's a bit long but its a great sketch of how a family looked like after the most traumatic disaster it could possibly face. the before and after of it is truly mind-boggling.

[~primetime~]

you might enjoy reading this prime

http://projects.thestar.com/what-michael-stewart-did/

it's a bit long but its a great sketch of how a family looked like after the most traumatic disaster it could possibly face. the before and after of it is truly mind-boggling.

After browsing over that I am not sure I would actually enjoy it though, it looks horribly depressing. It is probably very interesting though.

[kNIOKAS]

Well Hello? IF he IS, how can he tell?

Most of them tend to be on some kind of medication that ****s with your brain as well, which is never a good thing for a teenager, and often exacerbates their mental instability.

There's no "them" for you, son. You're one of them

[B-hoop]

you might enjoy reading this prime

http://projects.thestar.com/what-michael-stewart-did/

it's a bit long but its a great sketch of how a family looked like after the most traumatic disaster it could possibly face. the before and after of it is truly mind-boggling.

Wow, very interesting read.

[IamRAMBO24]

I am not surprise this is another school shooting. It looks like kids are stressed over education and the behavoral indoctrination they receive from it. Did you know around junior highschool, the system tries to break down the ego to convert the students into followers of the state? This is the rebellion stage, so it is not by coincidence these shooters happen to be in this age group with psychotic motivations to "get back" at the schools they attend. I bet many of you didn't know that and you prob think I'm an idiot for saying that, but it is a fact the system structures the mind to a set mindset and the breaking down of the ego is an important stage of the indoctrination. I mean that's how they do it in the military correct?

[masonanddixon]

Most of them tend to be on some kind of medication that ****s with your brain as well, which is never a good thing for a teenager, and often exacerbates their mental instability.

lol what the hell are you talking about?

[miller-time]

Most of them tend to be on some kind of medication that ****s with your brain as well, which is never a good thing for a teenager, and often exacerbates their mental instability.

What? If the medication is misprescribed sure it probably won't help them and could cause more damage, however medication is entirely necessary in cases of severe depression or schizophrenia. I had a friend who went through a full psychotic episode, without meds he would probably still be institutionalised. There are certain things that current psychological treatments cannot do.

Just tarring all medication as being dangerous for teenagers is not responsible. I believe they should be used as a last resort if other treatments aren't effective but they are sometimes very very necessary. And the people that they are very necessary for are the last people that should be discouraged from taking them.

[Random_Guy]

This isnt a rarity at all, they are just born this way. I feel really bad for him, and it must be tough, going through those thoughts.

[kNIOKAS]

Most people know there's something not right in their heads, not everybody with a condition is multiple personality/schizo.

Yes, I wasn't being serious...

However, in USA it might just become a norm to plan school massacres. Very trendy thing with people with mental disorders.

[Random_Guy]

Yes, I wasn't being serious...

However, in USA it might just become a norm to plan school massacres. Very trendy thing with people with mental disorders.

this is true, recently in taiwan, we had a massacare on a tram where a teenager killed multiple people with long samuri like knifes, and this past few weeks, homicides have rose a lot copycats do exists

[miller-time]

this is true, recently in taiwan, we had a massacare on a tram where a teenager killed multiple people with long samuri like knifes, and this past few weeks, homicides have rose a lot copycats do exists

Yeah and sensationalist reporting makes it worse too apparently. And if there is one thing the American media love it is sensationalism.

[Random_Guy]

Yeah and sensationalist reporting makes it worse too apparently. And if there is one thing the American media love it is sensationalism.

yup, interestingly, im currently interning at a tv news agency....and tbh most of the news we report is either graphic nudity violence or shit, even the reporters agree. but people like watching it