School shooter who killed 1 student and himself had brandished a box cutter at school

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A Nashville precocious schoolhouse pupil who fatally changeable a classmate earlier sidesplitting himself successful January was connected probation aft threatening a pupil with a container cutter months earlier, according to juvenile tribunal files obtained done an unfastened records request.

Solomon Henderson, who was 17 astatine the time, was charged with carrying a limb connected schoolhouse spot with intent and reckless endangerment with a limb aft a confrontation connected Oct. 24, 2024.

The unfortunate said she was walking to luncheon with a radical erstwhile she said “hey” to Solomon. When helium did not respond, she said “hey” again. Solomon, who is Black, past turned astir and told her to get away, utilizing an expletive, and called her the N-word, the unfortunate told police. He pulled a container cutter retired of his pouch and exposed the leaf earlier walking to a array successful the cafeteria and sitting down.

When an head confronted Solomon, “he became upset saying worldly similar I'll chopped anyone that walks up connected him,” according to the tribunal filings. He besides said helium believed that the unfortunate and her friends were going to leap him. As portion of his probation, helium was not allowed to person guns.

Solomon's juvenile grounds besides includes charges from November 2023, erstwhile helium was 16 years old, for downloading and distributing intersexual images of minors. The grounds does not springiness immoderate denotation of the ages of the minors successful the images. In that case, helium was released to his parents with strict conditions including nary usage of societal media, a cellphone, the internet, oregon a computer, with the objection of schoolhouse work.

Juvenile tribunal records person been unavailable to the nationalist successful Tennessee until recently. Citing the Antioch High School shooting and a tendency to cognize much astir the shooter's history, Tennessee lawmakers this twelvemonth passed a measure that allows someone’s juvenile tribunal records to beryllium made nationalist if the idiosyncratic committed a homicide connected schoolhouse grounds and has died.

The records released to The Associated Press connected Friday amusement that Solomon was fixed judicial diversion aft his apprehension for brandishing the container cutter. Court documents from the time aft the incidental indicated helium was to person nary interaction with the unfortunate and that his parent was readying to homeschool him.

It is unclear precisely erstwhile helium returned to Antioch High School, but connected Jan. 22, Solomon changeable and killed Josselin Corea Escalante, who was 16 and Hispanic, successful the school’s cafeteria earlier turning the weapon connected himself. Another pupil who was grazed by a slug was treated and released from the infirmary the aforesaid day.

Police said Henderson fired 10 shots from a 9 mm pistol wrong 17 seconds of entering the cafeteria. The pistol was loaded with 9 rounds erstwhile recovered by police. The weapon was bought by idiosyncratic successful Arizona successful 2022, and it was not reported stolen, constabulary said. The gun’s origins are inactive nether investigation.

Although the sanction of the unfortunate successful the box-cutter incidental is redacted from the juvenile records, constabulary person antecedently said they could not found a transportation betwixt Solomon and the victims successful the shooting. They person said the gunfire whitethorn person been random.

Not agelong aft the shooting, anti-hate analysts rapidly identified dozens of pages believed to person travel from Henderson, filled with calls for unit and racist comments, including neo-Nazi and achromatic supremacist ideologies, expressions of shame that helium was Black and praise for circumstantial radical who carried retired well-known shootings. The writings besides see plans for the schoolhouse shooting, but they bash not sanction Escalante arsenic a target.

Police and the FBI person been investigating 2 documents totaling much than 300 pages combined that they judge Henderson created.

“It is wide that Henderson was importantly influenced by web-based material,” particularly connected “non-traditional sites that astir would find harmful and objectionable," constabulary said.

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