Two Rochester teens allegedly planned 'Columbine style' school massacre

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ROCHESTER, Ind. -- Two teens who expressed admiration for the Columbine school shooters discussed carrying out their own school massacre at a school in Rochester. They were allegedly going to "kill as many as they can," according to court documents.

John L Schultz IV, 18, and Donald V. Robin Jr., 17, are each charged with conspiracy to commit murder and intimidation.

On July 13, 2020, a confidential informant told a Rochester Police officer Schultz and some of his friends were planning a school massacre, according to the probable cause affidavit.

The informant said Schultz was waiting for school to start so he could "Kill as many as they can and kill themselves just like Columbine," reports said.

Schultz and Robin are both former students of Rochester Community Schools, but are not active students. Schultz does live in close proximity to Riddle Elementary School, according to the probable cause affidavit.

After reviewing public posts on Schultz and Robin's Facebook pages, the officer obtained a search warrant for their accounts.

On Schultz's account, the officer located a Facebook messenger conversation with one unnamed individual where he discussed the alleged plan. The conversation happened on June 29, 2020 and discussed Schultz hanging out with Robin, reports said.

Schultz allegedly wrote, "We are gonna do it i wanna shoot up a school with him" and "I want him to stay out of trouble till we can shoot up the place."

On June 21, Schultz and Robin messaged each other and indicated they had a suicide pact, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Robin wrote, "but im killing myself after I kill a bunch of people," and "if you feel like you need to do it.. then do it… just know im stopping you because your MY partner," and "we're peacin out when we kill a bunch of human scum."

Schultz wrote, "I does exist donny just like no matter what im doin the same for u bc u guys are my family we had bad childhoods and we will always stick together u guys fr mean everything to me."

Court documents noted Robin and Schultz gave themselves the same nicknames used by Dylan Kliebold and Eric Harris, the perpetrators of the Columbine massacre, reports said. They also sent each other photos of the Harris and Kleibold.

On August 6, 2019, Robin had a conversation with an unnamed person on Facebook messenger and he confessed to almost perpetrating a school shooting and having an "itch for" it, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Robin wrote, "Can I tell you something that I actually had an itch for when I used to go to school," and "I was almost a school shooter," reports said.

Robin said when he was in the eighth grade he was depressed, suicidal and homicidal and decided he would "shoot up" Rochester Middle School, reports said.

He wrote that his father had recently acquired an AR15, so one day he put the AR-15 and 12 magazines in a duffle bag, in preparation, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Robin said he sat outside for approximately 30 minutes and talked himself out of doing it, reports said.

Robin wrote he had planned to kill 100 or more people - innocent kids, then kill himself, reports said.

He decided it was too risky because of the new security the school had put in place, reports said.

Also in August 2019, a friend purchased Robin a KMFDM hat for his birthday and said, "Can't believe I'm buying you a school shooter hat but if it makes you happy," reports said.

Robin wrote, "It's not a school shooter hat, it's a band hat," reports said.

In another conversation, Robin allegedly discussed shooting everyone at Caston High School, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Robin wrote he wanted "everyone dead there" and at Rochester High School, reports said.

He explained it would take 10 minutes for SWAT to arrive to Caston and another 10 minutes to figure out what was going on, according to the probable cause affidavit. He said he would kill the security guard, then start killing people in the halls, then kill students in classrooms and try to get through as many rooms as possible, according to the probable cause affidavit.

In another conversation on Facebook messenger, Robin said he had a gun "locked in my dads safe" and later discussed shooting up festivals, Black churches and even an airport, reports said.

The probable cause affidavit also states Schultz has multiple conversations on Facebook about either trying to buy illegal narcotics or others asking for his help selling illegal narcotics.

Charges were filed against Schultz and Robin on July 30.

Schultz, an adult, is being held in the Fulton County Jail.

Robin, a juvenile, is being held in Juvenile detention.

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