HUTCHINSON, Kan. – After Reno County District Judge Joe McCarville agreed to unseal the affidavits in the case against five teens accused of making threats against Hutch High, we were able to obtain those affidavits.
The affidavits are basically a request for search warrants in the case. They talk of how police were contacted by school officials over the threats made on Facebook. Police interviewed another teen who we won’t mention by name because he’s not a suspect. That teen told police that a month before that interview, he was present during a conversation with Dominic Collins, Tyler Cabral and Jake Eells. He told police they talked about driving a semi through Hutch High and “lighting people up.” They also said in that conversation that anyone not wearing purple would have their heads blown off and if everyone was wearing purple, they would kill everyone.
The teen interviewed by police said there were other conversations where they talked in a code language he didn’t understand.
Eells Facebook page had pictures of him at gun range firing different firearms, including an assault rifle. Detective Paul Sack, who prepared the affidavits, says a disturbing hand drawing was also posted on the page of a coffin with “R.I.P. Kody” and a fish holding an assault rifle.
Police later interviewed one of the suspects, Andre Harris, who admitted being involved in the online discussion, but claims they were joking. He told the detectives that Takoda “Kody” Bowman was involved in their group. Harris said that Bowman was the most likely to follow through with the school shooting because of suffering with depression.
Another teen, also not charged, told detectives about a conversation he heard. He told police that the plan was to enter Hutch High at start of the last day of school and hang around until second hour. That’s when the shooting would begin, but he thought everyone was joking except Tyler Cabral and Jake Eells.
The affidavits were for search warrants for five residences in Hutchinson and for computer software and related items as well as cell phones, including data, pictures, video, emails, chat logs, social media accounts, internet history, cookies and document files, also belonging to the five teens.
The five teenagers are accused of conspiring to carry out a shooting at Hutchinson High School with the state stating that the five had posted the threats on their Facebook page called “KYOD,” which stands for “kill yourself or die.”
Dominic Collins, Tyler Cabral, Jake Eells, Takoda D. Bowman and Andre R. Harris are charged with solicitation to commit first-degree murder and criminal threat.
The cases are pending future hearings in juvenile court.