PA Mom charged buying guns for son, allegedly planning attack on school

[karz10]

I searched, didn't see this yet on here, even though the story has been running...

It's a crazy story, I wish I had half of these firearms...not sure whether these photos or video include the '30 air powered guns' if so, that's a little misleading on the photo...

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/10/12/student.arsenal/#cnnSTCVideo That link has a video of the mini gun show this kid could have...

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- A woman bought guns and bomb-making material to indulge her socially outcast 14-year-old son, a prosecutor said Friday.


Police took a 14-year-old boy into custody after a search of his home turned up dozens of weapons.
2 of 2 Michele Cossey, 46, faces charges in connection with her son's alleged plan for a Columbine-like attack on a school. She is accused of buying him a .22-caliber handgun, a .22-caliber rifle, a 9 mm semiautomatic rifle and black powder used to make grenades.

"There's a lot of things at play here," Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor Jr. said. "You have a child who is obviously emotionally disturbed and a social outcast, and no doubt the parents feel sorry for him and are indulging him.

"This is not the best parenting I've ever seen, obviously, and she has to be held accountable for that."

Cossey was charged Friday with unlawful transfer of a fiream, possession of a firearm by a minor, corruption of a minor, endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of reckless endangerment.

A search of the family's home Wednesday in Plymouth Meeting outside Philadelphia turned up the rifle, about 30 air-powered guns, swords, knives, grenades, a bomb-making book and videos of the 1999 Columbine High School attack, Castor said.

Castor said the weapons were plainly visible in the boy's bedroom.

"We alleged that she purchased the 9 mm rifle for her son, allowed him to have black powder, gunpowder and the instruments to make the grenades," Castor said.

Don't Miss
Cleveland school shootings
"I don't think she had anything to do with planning this attack, but by virtue of her indulgence she allowed him to get into this position."

During a hearing Friday in juvenile court, a judge ruled authorities could continue to hold the teen during their investigation.

The judge also ordered psychiatric and educational achievement evaluations for the youth, who withdrew from school in 2006 and was reportedly home-schooled.

The teen was charged as a juvenile with solicitation to commit terror and other counts and was being held at a youth facility. If he is found delinquent, he could face long-term detention and counseling.

The boy was brought into court in handcuffs. At the end of the hearing, he blew a kiss to his mother and whispered, "I love you."

As Cossey sat sobbing in the courtroom, Castor walked over to her and informed her that he had a warrant for her arrest. He told her to go to his office on a lower floor of the courthouse, where the warrant was served.

The boy's father, Frank Cossey, also could face criminal charges pending an investigation, police said.

Police said Frank Cossey was sentenced to house arrest for failing to acknowledge a 1981 manslaughter conviction when he tried to buy a .22-caliber rifle for his son in 2005, The Associated Press reported.

School officials said police acted on a tip from a Plymouth Whitemarsh High School student and his father. They said they believe the tip was prompted by Wednesday's shooting at a Cleveland, Ohio, school in which a 14-year-old killed himself after wounding two teachers and two other students.

In separate incidents in West Virginia, six teens have been arrested and charged with making terrorist threats at two high schools.


In Marion County, four students are suspected of involvement in attempting to set fires at Fairmont High School, and a fifth is accused of making unrelated threats against students and teachers, Marion County Prosecutor Pat Wilson said.

In Greenbrier County, a Greenbrier East High School student was arrested Thursday morning after students alerted police that he was making threats of a school shooting, said John Curry, county schools superintendent

What's going on...

Karz

 

[American_Pit_Bull]

I wish I had half of these firearms

You wish that you had two .22 caliber firearms and one 9mm carbine and a bunch of plastic toys?

I still do not get what they are charging the mother with.

 

[karz10]

Well, I said that, but then I re-read the article and added that I didn't know if the photo/video was including the 30 air guns mentioned in the story, and how if it did, that it was misleading to lay out the toy weapons on a table and not indicated that most of them are not actual firearms....

And FWIW, I did scan two pages deep in general discussion, and searched on terms like mom/mother charged buy guns for boy/son etc., and did not see any threads on this, to my surprise, I thought for sure there would be...

Now of course, I come back to see a post here, and see right on the first page of the general forum, a monster thread started earlier today, don't know where it was earlier, sorry for the dupe:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=308610 Although at the beginning of the thread it talked about the cache, not the mom being charged, gonna go read it now and see if they bring it up...

 

[vtoddball]

What scares me the most is that all these people, the kid and the 6 other kids mentioned in Virginia are charged with "making terroristic threats." Where did this law come from? I never heard of this crime until the last few years. Is this some offshoot of the Patriot Act? Does anyone else find it more than a little disturbing that just mentioning an attack places you on the same level as actual terrorists as far as law enforcement is concerned? It terrifies me that now we can be arrested for what they THINK we MIGHT do.

Granted these kids are idiots, but that's what childhood is. It's when you have a chance to work out all the idiot bugs. This isn't a crime, it's stupidity. Also, the parents don't teach responsibility(because it's hard to do when they aren't all that responsible themselves) and kids can't have jobs nowadays so they don't learn it there, and teachers can't instill it, yet we throw the book at them. No one taught him the consequences of his actions. It's like raising a puppy for a year without housebreaking it, then suddenly kicking it every time it craps in the house.

In addition(without defending the kid), the bitter irony here is that he'll be punished for making a (probably) empty threat, but the bully who threatened and actually beat/tormented him is still free to do as he pleases because he's socially astute enough to play the system.

 

[vtoddball]

We agree the kid is not the brightest brass in the magazine.

That being said, should every kid who threatens to kill someone should be arrested whether he means it or not? I don't think I know/knew a teenager who hasn't at one time or another uttered "I'm going to kill so-and-so" after a bad day or "I wish they were all dead." Kids have said/thought that for centuries without actually doing it. George Carlin has whole routines based on "Here's another group of people who should be ..<insert gruesome death here>.

My point is that you want to be VERY careful when you start imprisoning people for threats because they are just words and throwing people in prison for words is a dangerous path to start down.

This doesn't even address the inconsistency that adults can threaten death and violence to spouses, girlfriends, etc, and they MAYBE get a slap on the wrist or a useless restraining order, but a 14 year old kid could serve time for making a "terrorist threat."

 

[Deacon Blues]

My point is that you want to be VERY careful when you start imprisoning people for threats because they are just words and throwing people in prison for words is a dangerous path to start down.

I agree wholeheartedly. I remember being immature and prone to running my mouth - and sometimes paying for it. I think the present "zero tolerance" attitude toward students is bound to result in many more cases like this in the future.

Kids should be taught that careless words are dangerous, and adults should remember that careless words are just that.

 

[Rustynuts]

I still do not get what they are charging the mother with.

Wouldn't it be illegal to buy a minor 3 REAL guns? Also the story I read had the kid making blackpowder/gunpowder handgrenades, not just possessing them. I'm assuming it's illegal for a minor to have black powder too.

 

[American_Pit_Bull]

...are charged with "making terroristic threats." Where did this law come from? I never heard of this crime until the last few years

It has been around a long time. Some buddies of mine were almost charged with propulsion/throwing of missiles for tossing a frying pan over a hill, a long time ago.

Wouldn't it be illegal to buy a minor 3 REAL guns?

Not in PA, with parental consent and supervision. And since he never left the house with the firearms the supervision clause in the PA code will be stretched.
My grandmother purchased me a semi-auto .22 for x-mas one year and by the time that I was 18 I had been gifted and inherited over a dozen firearms.

 

[El Tejon]

Hmmm, I had considerably more than just 3 firearms in my room at 14. It will be interesting to see how this works out.

 

[shc1]

I still do not get what they are charging the mother with.

No flame intended.
At least one firearm was involved. The media know that sheep will run scared to the tube for answers.
When guns are in the headlines anyone is guilty until proven innocent.

 

[American_Pit_Bull]

When guns are in the headlines anyone is guilty until proven innocent.

Very good point.

I was telling my wife that his airsoft guns were even less lethal than BB guns, since they only fire rubber pellets.

I would say that the firearms charges will not stick against the parent, especially since there was no ammo for the 9mm carbine even present.

 

[glassman]

That school is not too far from me and the local press is eating it up. Pictures in the news papers include all of his weapons including pump action shotguns but only make mention of the 'most dangerous' assault rifle. His 'grenades' consisted of tupperware containers filled with black powder and BB's. Someone help me here..would that system even explode?
I think this kid is troubled and needs psychiatric intervention and house arrest as opposed to prison time.
They're going after the mom for making a 'straw purchase' but I thought it was legal to pass a firearm to a direct relative. Again, someone help me on this one.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Someone help me here..would that system even explode?

Just enough to really burn the guy lighting it.

They're going after the mom for making a 'straw purchase' but I thought it was legal to pass a firearm to a direct relative.

And since he never left the house with the firearms the supervision clause in the PA code will be stretched.

This story doesn't discuss it but the other stories report that he took a .22 rifle and a .22 handgun to a friends house.

He was not of sufficient age to be in possession and he had taken some of the firearms to another location.
If she'd bought them for him but kept them locked up in her control she'd have been OK.

Like El T, I had a room full of handguns rifles and shotguns when I was 13, 14 but it was technically illegal and my parents could have been in big trouble.

That's where she is gonna be in trouble.

The important lesson to be learned from this is when they show up at your door without a warrant you; shuttup, lawyer up and oh yeah, shuttup again.

 

[akodo]

What scares me the most is that all these people, the kid and the 6 other kids mentioned in Virginia are charged with "making terroristic threats." Where did this law come from? I never heard of this crime until the last few years.

I believe terroristic threat has been around for quite a while. It hinges on making a threat and being able to carry it out immediately. It is freqently related to weapon possession, but need not be. "Do this or I will cut you with the steak knife I have in my hand" that is a terroristic threat. It is especially useful when the action commanded is not related to theft or something.

 

[TexasRifleman]

PA definition of terroristic threat....just FYI.

A person commits the crime of terroristic threats if the person communicates, either directly or indirectly, a threat to:

commit any crime of violence with intent to terrorize another;

cause evacuation of a building, place of assembly, or facility of public transportation; or

otherwise cause serious public inconvenience, or cause terror or serious public inconvenience with reckless disregard of the risk of causing such terror or inconvenience.

Doesn't even appear that the person has to be shown to have the means, just the threat.

An offense under subsection (a) constitutes a misdemeanor of the first degree.

 

[Stephen21B]

I live in PA, I got a Red Rider bb gun for my 5th birthday, a Marlin semi-auto .22 when I was 10 and a Savage model 111 in 30'06 after I passed the hunters' safety course when I was 12 and I would be lying if I said I've never threatened someone when I was in school or that I've never blown anything up with a black-powder bomb. and its my opinion that this borders on thought-crime, not to mention how the media tried to make the airsoft guns look like the real thing

 

[ColinthePilot]

I never had guns when I was a kid, not because my parents are anti's but they just weren't into guns when I was growing up. We didn't hunt or shoot paper, so I was little exposed until I started shooting at the Boy Scout range.
My kids though, assuming guns are still legal when I decide to reproduce, will be getting "A Christmas Story" and a Red Rider BB gun in the same box, and both will be used Christmas morning.

I totally agree that the kid needs some professional help and some parental responsibility, but jail time won't help. Childhood is practice and training for real life. You're expected to screw up here and there, you get lessons on what you did wrong and what to do in the future. Jail is the punishment without the lesson.

 

[yesit'sloaded]

I think we are starting to see the beginning of the anti terror laws being used as a way to arrest people for thought crime. He was arrested for a "Solicitation to cause terror" IIRC. I agree he was disturbed and probably was planning something, but I think he needs a daddy and some therapy instead of jail.

 

[Flak_Jakett]

I

live in PA, I got a Red Rider bb gun for my 5th birthday,

I hope you were carefull, you could have poked your eye out.

This story seems to be filled with all kinds of fluff. At first it was a huge arsenal. Then it is 3 weapons, 30 bb guns, and some handgrenades.

Now it is 2 .22 rifles a .22 pistol, some bb, and some airsoft guns. The grenades turned out to be tubs with black powder and bbs. What is the real story here?

In my state I think it is legal to own rifles at 14. Not pistols though. I'd have to look through the legal gobblty gook and I'd much rather have my teeth pulled. I know that I had a 30-30 at that age which I went hunting with every year.

Was this kid planning an airsoft gun collection? I don't get why the heck he had so many of the damn things, but I don't get stamp collectors either, so I guess I'll just shrug on that one.

 

[Dr. Peter Venkman]

Mass shooting plans without ammunition?

Sounds more like a Battle of the Bulge kind of plan.

 

[denfoote]

It's all propaganda!!!

You people are discussing this as if it were a valid criminal case!!!

It's an election year people!!!

This is simply PROPAGANDA and from the way you are bandying it about, it's pretty damn good!!

This could be taken straight from Dr Goebbles' diaries or Mein Kampf!!!

It's got sensationalism, the perceived threat of violence, a benevolent State rushing in to protect the masses, and just enough truth to make it believable!!

It's classic!!!

 

[elrod]

vtoddball

That being said, should every kid who threatens to kill someone should be arrested whether he means it or not?

Deacon Blues

Kids should be taught that careless words are dangerous, and adults should remember that careless words are just that.

We must remember that in the last few months a crazy young man actually made videos in which he threatened violence, got a gun, and killed 32 people in a school. Also, in the past week, another moonbat kid brought a gun to the school he had been removed from, and shot 4 people before he commited suicide. Then this little angel gets 3 real guns from his mother-of-the-year, threatens a school shooting, and everyone gets upset because he might be treated as an adult???? IMHO, if the authorities are making an error, it is only on the side on caution.

 

[ROMAK IV]

It's all propaganda!!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You people are discussing this as if it were a valid criminal case!!!

It's an election year people!!!

That was my thought. From what i have heard, the case is pretty muched based on what one singe kid accused the other of saying. The matter of charging the parents for what is legal for them to do anyway, I think endangers the main case, which, if it is based on the testimony of a single accuser, then unless the kid said something really stupid, will probably end up being dismissed. Whne there appears a hysteria out of the media over airguns, we are headed for the sad state of affirs that is occuring in England.

 

[TexasRifleman]

I think we are starting to see the beginning of the anti terror laws being used as a way to arrest people for thought crime.

The "terroristic threat" statutes have been around for decades. I remember a couple of kids being charged with that in Texas in around 1981 for putting smoke bombs under the stage at a high school graduation.

They been using that one as an excuse long before terrorism was in the headlines.

 

[spaceCADETzoom]

30 air-powered guns, swords, knives, grenades, a bomb-making book and videos of the 1999 Columbine High School attack

HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA. These are our trusted crack journalists there, folks. That's not loaded at all. Nope. 30 air powered guns, swords...columbine...It just wouldn't sound right to just say "30 toy guns" (they're not even REAL BB GUNS, fer crying out loud!) Gotta call them "air-powered guns" and lump them with swords and knives and columbine. I wonder what kind of "swords" he had. A letter opener? A kilingon dagger from the nerd catalog?