Tennessee sixth-graders remain in custody after shooting plot exposed

Published 7:00 pm Monday, April 29, 2019

CROSSVILLE, TN — Two Tennessee sixth-grade students made their first appearance in juvenile court Monday morning on charges of conspiracy to commit murder following discovery of a school shooting plot Friday.

“Judge [Larry] Warner [juvenile court judge], upon hearing testimony decided to keep the juveniles detained until we can have further hearings and proceedings,” District Attorney General Bryant Dunaway said during a press conference Monday afternoon.

The school’s resource officer, Anthony Loshbaugh, received an anonymous tip Friday about a rumor circulating at South Cumberland (TN) Elementary School of a “hit list.” Loshbaugh turned the information over to the Crossville-Cumberland County District Threat Assessment Task Force for investigation.

“It was determined there wasn’t a hit list, but there was a plot and a map,” said Sgt. Gary Howard, public information officer for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office. “The sixth-graders planned to bring guns to school, hide them in lockers and somewhere near the end of school, they were going to come in and shoot faculty and staff.”

The task force quickly determined there was not an active threat, but that an investigation was needed.

“We saw nothing in this investigation that indicated that we had an immediate threat,” Howard said.

Howard said parents and students were not immediately notified of the threat because it was felt releasing that information could jeopardize the investigation in its early stages.

One student was taken into custody at the school and another at a residence. A search of their homes did not produce any weapons, and no weapons were found at the school.

As news of the arrests and the plot circulated Monday, Director of Schools Janet Graham said some parents had called the school and the Central Office.

“The No. 1 thing they wanted to know is, is their child safe? And the answer to that is absolutely yes. They have been under no danger at any time,” Graham said.

Law enforcement officials indicated the investigation was ongoing and did not reveal any further information regarding the identify of the students or possible motive for the plot.

Dunaway said he anticipated the cases would remain in juvenile court. A mental health evaluation is typical in juvenile cases involving such serious charges, he added.

“The investigation is ongoing,” Dunaway said. “We want to gather all the facts before making a final determination of what actions we’re going to take. We felt it was appropriate to charge the students that we know were involved at this point because of the seriousness of the investigation.

“As the investigation develops, we’ll take appropriate action.”

Graham said the school system’s Safe School Counselors, school faculty and others would be on hand to answer questions students at South Cumberland Elementary may have about the situation in the coming days.