An 18-year-old Catoctin High School student will face charges this week after county sheriff’s deputies said they uncovered her plot last week to carry out a shooting at the school.
Nichole Cevario will be charged with both the possession of explosive materials with the intent to create a destructive device as well as possession of incendiary material with the intent to create a destructive device after she is released from Frederick Memorial Hospital for a mental evaluation.
Cevario was the only person believed to be involved in the plot and no one else was to be charged as of Monday, according to a news release issued Monday by the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office.
(An 18-year-old student meticulously planned a mass shooting attack at her high school in which she intended to die, authorities in Maryland said Monday. Courtesy of Associated Press and YouTube)
Cevario, of Thurmont, was arrested Thursday after one of her parents notified school officials of a threat to the school, Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said at a news conference Monday afternoon at the county’s law enforcement center.
“This event was very probably prevented by the parents who stepped forward,” Jenkins said. “They saw something, they said something, they came forward, they did the right thing, so I give all the credit in the world to the parents of this young lady.”
Cevario was removed from class Thursday immediately after her father notified school officials, Jenkins said.
A number of “explosive materials” — including pipes with end caps, nails to be used as shrapnel, fireworks, magnesium tape and fuse materials — were seized by deputies in a search of Cevario’s home last week, but none of those materials had been combined in any way to create a bomb, Jenkins said.
“Basically the plan was to extract the black powder from the fireworks to create the pipe bombs,” Jenkins said, adding that a Remington 870 shotgun and 12-gauge ammunition were also recovered from the house.
No weapons or explosives were recovered at the school, according to Monday’s release.
Cevario’s journal was at the center of the sheriff’s office’s ongoing investigation as of Monday, Jenkins said. From the first entry, made Dec. 16, 2016, the diary hinted at violence, but the sheriff’s office was still looking into whether any specific events prompted Cevario to begin planning the shooting, Jenkins said.
“Within this diary, we saw evidence of mental health issues, a number of emotional issues, the way she went out and found the means to purchase materials,” Jenkins said. “… It was to create, basically to be a mass shooting type event. [There were] no specific names or targets.”
The journal contained a detailed analysis of every stage of Cevario’s plan and what she expected to encounter, including information she gathered from speaking with the school resource officer assigned to the school, Jenkins said.
“It was very clear to us that she had the means and materials to cause significant damage to herself, to the student body, to the facility up there at Catoctin High School. … We felt this was going to be carried out. There was no doubt in our minds that we averted a disaster up there,” Jenkins said.
“I’ve never seen anything like this, to be honest with you,” Jenkins added.
Deputies also believe Cevario was intent on dying on April 5, the date specified in her journal for the shooting to occur, Jenkins said. There was no indication as to why Cevario had chosen April 5.
Michael Doerrer, a spokesman for Frederick County Public Schools, said there was no indication, at least from the school’s staff, before her arrest that Cevario was planning to carry out violence at the school.
That said, school officials acted as soon as they received word from Cevario’s father, which occurred while classes were in session Thursday.
“We identify the location of the student, go to where the student is and then remove the student to the office,” Doerrer said, outlining the school system’s protocol for handling potential threats.
“That’s where law enforcement takes over. … It’s important to us that we do that in a nondisruptive way and that’s exactly what happened here.”
Counselors and other resources were available for students and staff at Catoctin High School as of Monday morning, which is also outlined in school protocol, Doerrer said, adding that he was also at the school as of just after 11 a.m.
“It is business as usual at Catoctin High,” he said. “It’s quiet.”
The sheriff’s office’s release expressed the agency’s appreciation for the cooperation it received in the investigation from the county school system; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the state and county fire marshal’s offices; and the Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Learn More… from the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office
CATOCTIN HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING THREAT UNCOVERED
On Thursday, March 23, 2017, Catoctin High School officials were notified by a concerned parent of the potential threat of violence towards the school.
Administrators immediately contacted the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office and an investigation was initiated.
The student, an 18 year old female and Thurmont resident identified as Nichole Cevario, was immediately removed from the classroom and turned over to investigators.
Preliminary investigation revealed clearly that Ms. Cevario posed a threat not only to the school, but to herself.
She was transported from the school to Frederick Memorial Hospital for an emergency evaluation and currently remains hospitalized.
IT WAS ABUNDTLY CLEAR TO INVESTIGATORS VERY EARLY ON IN THE INVESTIGATION THAT THE IDENTIFICATION AND QUICK CONTAINMENT OF MS. CEVARIO ELIMINATED ANY THREAT TO THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY.
THE INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT AT NO TIME WAS THERE EVER A WEAPON OR EXPLOSIVE DEVICE BROUGHT ON TO SCHOOL PROPERTY.
ADDITIONALLY THE INVESTIGATION IS CLEAR THAT WHILE EXPLOSIVE MATERIALS WERE LOCATED DURING THE INVESTIGATION THEY HAD NOT BEEN COMBINED IN ANY FORM THAT ACTUALLY CREATED AN EXPLOSIVE DEVICE.
Detectives from the Sheriff’s Office have been aggressively investigating this incident for the past several days to determine its extent and if there were any other individuals involved with Ms. Cevario.
The investigation to this point has revealed that this was a plot solely conceived by Ms. Cevario and there are no other individuals that assisted her in the planning and/or the execution of this plot.
Additionally, at this point in the investigation, we are confident that Ms. Cevario was the only one that knew of the impending incident that was averted as a result of this investigation.
The investigation to this point has been focused on the search of Ms. Cevario’s residence and the recovery of evidence, scrutiny of her journal, interviews with her known associates, family members, and friends.
Ms. Cevario’s journal clearly spelled out a detailed shooting event that she planned to execute on a specific date in April at Catoctin High School. Evidence recovered from her home revealed that she was actively acquiring materials needed to execute the plot.
Those items included a shotgun with ammunition, bomb making materials to include pipes with end caps, shrapnel, fireworks, magnesium tape, and fuse material.
Ms. Cevario’s journal revealed that she had been planning this event for some time and had been compiling intelligence on behavior activities of the school, noting emergency procedures associated with drills conducted by school staff and obtaining intelligence on the School Resource Deputy assigned to the school.
The journal was very detailed including a timeline that revealed how she was going to execute the plot and her expectations at each stage of the event.
Investigators are confident of the intent, but are still trying to evaluate if Ms. Cevario would have had the will to execute the event, but what was clear from Ms. Cevario is she planned on dying on the date she identified in her journal.
The investigation has also revealed she had the means and equipment to have caused a significant life safety event at Catoctin High School if she had followed through with the threat.
It was also clear that Ms. Cevario was struggling with mental health issues which prompted the emergency evaluation at Frederick Memorial Hospital.
Investigators have obtained an arrest warrant for Ms. Cevario that will be served upon her release from Frederick Memorial Hospital charging her with:
- Possession of explosive material with intent to create a destructive device.
- Possession of incendiary material with the intent to create a destructive device.
The Sheriff’s Office is extremely appreciative of the parent’s actions in bringing this potentially deadly incident to the proper authority’s attention, promptly, so that a positive conclusion could be achieved.
They absolutely did the right thing and have been extremely cooperative throughout the entire investigation.
We also acknowledge that this is a very difficult time for the family and ask that everyone respect their privacy in this matter.
We also want to acknowledge that emergency procedures, developed in cooperation with Frederick County Public Schools, which have been in place for some time, worked in this case.
We have a significant amount of valuable information from this incident that will be extremely beneficial to school and law enforcement officials. We intend to evaluate this information and update our emergency procedures, system-wide, in order to further improve on our response to critical incidents.
The Sheriff’s Office is also extremely grateful for the cooperation and assistance we received in this case from Frederick County Public Schools, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office bomb squad, the Department of Fire and Rescue Fire Marshal’s Office, and the Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Any one that has information related to this investigation is asked to contact SGT Greg Warner at 301-600-2583.
Frederick County Sheriff’s Office 110 Airport Drive East Frederick, MD 21701 301-600-1046 www.frederickcountymd.gov/SHERIFF
