Indiana teen accused of plotting Valentine’s Day school shooting was inspired by the Parkland massacre

An Indiana teenager has been accused of plotting a school shooting on Valentine’s Day allegedly inspired by the gunman who murdered 17 people at a Parkland, Florida, high school on February 14, 2018, according to police and court records.

Trinity Shockley, 18, has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and two terrorism-related charges, according to Morgan County court records. CNN is trying to determine if Shockley has legal representation.

Shockley is charged under the name Trinity but is transgender and prefers to be called Jamie, according to an affidavit obtained by CNN affiliate WISH. It’s unclear which pronouns Shockley uses.

Detectives with the Mooresville Metropolitan Police Department received information from the FBI that a person, who authorities later identified as Shockley, was potentially planning a school shooting at Mooresville High School, according to a media release.

Mooresville is about 10 miles southwest of Indianapolis and has about 10,000 residents.

“Nothing ever happens in Mooresville. It’s a small town,” Mooresville Police Chief Kerry Buckner told CNN affiliate WTHR.

“To think somebody was plotting to hurt a lot of individuals of kids, future leaders of this country or whoever is pretty disturbing.”

Investigators learned Shockley planned to carry out the mass shooting on February 14, exactly seven years after the Parkland shooting, the release said.

Shockley is currently being held in the Morgan County Jail without bond, police said.

According to the affidavit, a tipster called the FBI’s Sandy Hook tip line and said their friend had access to an AR-15, had just ordered a bulletproof vest, and admires Nikolas Cruz, the Parkland shooter.

Cruz is serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole after he pleaded guilty to murdering 17 people and wounding 17 others in the worst mass shooting at a high school in US history.

The tip included messages Shockley appears to have sent on the messaging app Discord describing plans for the shooting, according to the affidavit.

One of Shockley’s targets, according to the affidavit, was their best friend.

“I’m shooting him,” Shockley allegedly wrote in messages with another person.

“Parkland part two,” Shockley allegedly said in messages to another Discord user. “I’ve been planning this for a YEAR.”

The FBI traced the IP address associated with the Discord account back to Shockley, the affidavit says.

According to the affidavit, Shockley spoke with a school counselor Tuesday and expressed an “obsession” with, and sexual attraction to, Cruz. Shockley allegedly showed the counselor a heart locket necklace with Cruz’s photo.

The affidavit describes what Shockley allegedly wrote in notebooks professing love for past shooters, including Cruz.

“I cannot stop thinking about Nikolas,” Shockley wrote, according to the affidavit. “Why must he be so far away….I love you Nikolas.”

Police executed a search warrant at Shockley’s home on Wednesday, according to the affidavit, and found a collage on the wall of Shockley’s room with photos of Cruz; Dylan Roof, perpetrator of the 2015 Charleston, South Carolina, church mass shooting; and Randy Stair, who killed three coworkers at a Pennsylvania supermarket in 2017.

Police also found three notebooks and a photo album depicting known mass shooters, including the three mentioned above, the affidavit says.

Police found several AR-15 magazines, a box of .40 caliber bullets and a soft armor vest in Shockley’s father’s room, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit does not say if a gun was found by police, and it’s unclear if Shockley had access to a weapon.

Inside Shockley’s backpack, police found notebooks with swastikas and the words “kill,” “bang,” and “I hate you all DIE DIE DIE,” the affidavit says.

In interviews with police, the affidavit says, Shockley said “she was joking” about shooting up the school and did not have access to a gun. However, Shockley described a plan to carry out the shooting at lunch time on Valentine’s Day, according to the affidavit.

Shockley is grieving the recent death of their mother, the affidavit says.

According to the affidavit, Shockley had been struggling with suicidal thoughts and had sought mental health help for years.

Shockley was also struggling with the aftermath of an accident with a drunk driver, the affidavit said, and “has anger issues” after being bullied because of the accident.

The man who struck Shockley with his vehicle died by suicide, and when Shockley found out about it, felt blame for his death, according to the affidavit.

An October 2022 Facebook post by Mooresville Metropolitan Police Department shows a photo of Shockley next to police officers holding a large yellow poster thanking the officers that responded when Shockley was hit by a drunk driver.

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