Authorities revealed that David was charged after showing an interest in school shooters, arguing that they might have prevented a “tragedy” at Switzerland Point Middle School.
A middle school student in Florida was arrested after he allegedly created his own homemade guns and explosives for a planned robbery.
Sheriff’s deputies in St. John’s County received a tip that two teenage boys, 14-year-old Julian Davis and his 13-year-old friend, were messaging each other on Telegram about “holding someone at gunpoint.” The messages between the two boys were revealed to include information on building a shotgun and a musket.
In a news conference on Friday, Sheriff Robert Hardwick, along with federal investigators, publicly addressed the case for the first time. Authorities revealed that Davis was charged after showing an interest in school shooters, arguing that they might have prevented a “tragedy” at Switzerland Point Middle School.
St. Johns County District Deputy Superintendent Paul Abbatinozzi did clarify that there was never a direct threat to the school.
Law enforcement had conducted searches of Davis’ home in late April, where they found multiple homemade firearms, ammunition, suspected explosives, and makeshift handcuffs, according to a report by Fox News. Davis was arrested on April 30 and was charged as an adult, facing multiple gun and explosive offenses. He was also charged with his friend with conspiracy to commit a robbery with a gun.
Authorities also uncovered handwritten notes by Davis that depicted what appeared to be constructions of weapons and a Molotov cocktail. He was found to have searched a tactical vest with “White supremacy drawings” and a copy of Brenton Tarrant’s manifesto, the man who shot two mosques in New Zealand in 2019.
“Davis was using his devices in his home to research things. He had a [fixation] with people that had committed these mass school shootings, people that have gone in and done these mass stabbings,” Hardwick said. “So, he was actually spending a lot of his time on there going through these high-profile cases. And it’s something that he actually wanted to emulate.”
