When police officers pulled over a 19-year-old for a burned out headlight, they soon discovered that he had handwritten pages detailing his alleged plans to kill everyone at his former high school.
Henry Horton IV, who attended Okeechobee High School, was taken into custody on Thursday by detectives with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office after they found the man apparently had plans to carry out mass killings at a number of locations, according to the Sun Sentinel.
Horton allegedly carried out reconnaissance work on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and he showed up to the location during the school days and studied the students there.
After the authorities asked Horton why he had planned to carry out such a horrific attack at Stoneman Douglas — the location of a mass shooting that took place in 2018, killing 17 and injuring 17 more — he replied that he wanted to do it “for attention or fame.”
NY Daily News reported Horton had apparently planned to purchase a M1911 handgun and an AK-47 to carry out the mass shooting, and he had a separate plan to go on a “stabbing spree” at El Ray Jesus church in Miami, where 10 more people would die.
However, Horton’s parents insisted that he was not a danger to the public, noting that he was just struggling with mental issues. Horton’s mother, Marcie Horton, claimed that her son had checked himself into a mental hospital in Virginia earlier this year, but ended up leaving the facility without a diagnosis.
“All they did was pump him full of medicine,” Marcie said.
“He needs to be treated for mental illness and not be treated as a criminal,” she added. “He needs a firm diagnosis to find out what the problem is and go from there and get him the help that he so desperately is asking for.”
Horton reportedly spoke to the authorities without a lawyer, admitting he was having thoughts about mass killings. He admitted that he wanted to kill a total of 15 people at his former high school on his 22nd birthday, which would happen in 2026. Following this apparent admission, he said that he ultimately wanted to be killed by the police.
The authorities subsequently took him into custody under Florida’s Baker Act, a law that allows people to be held at a designated location for up to three days if they are believed to pose a threat to themselves or someone else.
While Horton was held under the Baker Act, he said that he wanted to carry out a violent attack because his stepmother had booted him out of the house.
“She kicked me out for telling her my honest thoughts,” Horton wrote. “Now I suffer in Florida in the middle of nowhere.”
As a result, Horton has been charged with written threats to kill or do harm. He was held on a $1 million bond in Palm Beach County, per court records. If he is released, he will still remain under house arrest with a monitor.
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