15-year-old who made threat against Michigan high school confessed plan to parents

PAW PAW, Mich. – A 15-year-old student is facing charges after making threats against a Michigan high school.

WOODTV reports the Paw Paw High School student was arrested Sunday and is being held at Allegan County Juvenile Center on related charges.

WOODTV reports that police found Molotov cocktails and materials to make pipe bombs in the suspect’s home. Authorities also found two guns inside the home.

“I think it was going to happen (Monday) morning,” Van Buren County Sheriff Daniel Abbott told WOODTV. "There's no question in my mind there was going to be a terrorist act today. The guns were going to go inside a school along with the bombs and it was going to be a bad environment today."

The parents of the student tell WOODTV that the 15-year-old confessed to them.

"He came to us and said that he’s been really upset and said that he’s been planning to do something bad," the boy's stepfather told WOODTV. "It was a big shock."

The teen's parents said he had been bullied since joining the district last year, and that things got worse after a photo of the teen in his underwear taken last summer somehow began to circulate among his fellow students. 

"Since that point, it's just been relentless," the stepfather said.

The stepfather said bullies "shoved him into lockers, punched him in the throat (and) knocked him down with no remorse."

"He wanted to blow the school up on top of him," the stepfather said. "I was in shock. I just couldn’t believe it. ... We couldn't think at that point. How'd this even get to this point?"

The parents told WOODTV that once their son came to them, they took him to the police.

"He wanted to go. He knew that he needed help," the stepfather said. "He walked right into the lobby and was like, ‘This is what I’ve been planning on doing.' He said, 'This is where you can find everything.'"

More here from WOODTV.

The student is facing several charges, including:

• Two felony counts of larceny of firearms
• Two felony counts of possession of a short-barreled shotgun or rifle
• Two felony counts of felony firearm
• A felony count of attempted manufacture of explosives
• A misdemeanor count of possession of a Molotov cocktail explosive device

Paw Paw Public Schools canceled classes Monday due to the threat.

Anyone with information can call the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office at 269.657.3101, Crime Stoppers at 1.800.342.7867 or Silent Observer at 269.343.2100.