LITCHFIELD, Conn. (AP) - An 18-year-old Connecticut woman cited the 1999 Columbine school shootings in her diary alongside plans to shoot up her high school last month, according to court records released Tuesday.
The Register Citizen reports (https://bit.ly/1dL8ipP ) that records show Natalie Carpenter wanted to take revenge for being bullied at Danbury High School and then commit suicide in the school cafeteria.
An arrest warrant unsealed Tuesday in Litchfield Superior Court says she tried to carry out her plan, including filling out paperwork to obtain a firearm. Carpenter and Peter Thulin, 19, both of Torrington, are accused of plotting to shoot up the school.
Carpenter’s mother, Wendy, said her daughter wouldn’t “hurt a fly” and was acting out while trying to cope with the loss of two close friends.
Carpenter was arrested March 4 and pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree assault and criminal attempt to commit first-degree assault.
She wrote in her diary she wanted to “follow in the footsteps” of the Columbine killers.
Natalie Carpenter told police she and Thulin were drunk when they contemplated the shooting, saying, “What would happen if we all did this?”
She wasn’t able to buy a gun after she was turned away by a Torrington gun store and was told by Wal-Mart to wait two weeks while paperwork was being processed, according to the court records.
Carpenter is being held at Niantic Corrections Institute. Thulin will be turned over to authorities after he is treated at a psychiatric facility.
Some who know or were familiar with Carpenter suggest the woman was bullied and isolated from peers.
A neighbor in Stratford, where Carpenter attended public schools, recalled brushes with her. Nick Forrest said his family considered installing surveillance after Carpenter crashed her mother’s vehicle into the family’s garage door when she was a minor.
___
Information from: The Register Citizen, https://www.registercitizen.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.