| Posted on Mon, Jul. 07, 2003 |   |
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An 18-year-old man and two juvenile boys were arrested yesterday in suburban Camden County with a cache of rifles, swords and knives, and police said the three had planned to target students who attend Oaklyn Public School, then "randomly attack as many people as possible." Oaklyn Police Chief Christopher Ferrari said the three, including two students who had attended the middle school, had been planning to commit "multiple homicides" since early this year. "They were going to execute three individuals and continue until they ran out of ammunition with the killings throughout town," Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi said at a news conference last night outside the Oaklyn Police Department. The alleged plot - evoking memories of shootings by students at Colorado's Columbine High School and other schools in the last few years - was discovered after a motorist flagged down Officer Charles Antrilli in Oaklyn at 3:48 a.m. yesterday and said the three had tried to carjack him. They surrendered to an officer after a tense but brief showdown. Ferrari said the three had been poised to start the killings. Each was armed with a high-power rifle or shotgun, he said, and they had handguns with more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition. "It was sort of a Columbine-type thing, except they were going to be more mobile," said Ferrari, who also said that the three "had planned on not being taken alive by law enforcement authorities." Matthew Lovett, 18, who just graduated from Collingswood High School, was among those arrested. He lived in a small apartment in Oaklyn with his father and a brother. Police said Lovett was charged with aggravated assault, possession of firearms for an unlawful purpose and carjacking. Authorities did not identify the 14-year-old and 15-year-old juveniles because of their age. Officials said all three would be charged with conspiracy to commit murder. The three called themselves the "Warriors of Freedom," according to teenagers who knew them. They were known sometimes to dress in all black like characters from the movie Matrix. One of them was known for drawing violent cartoons in class and felt bullied by students at the Oaklyn middle school, acquaintances said. Officials would not comment on a letter, reportedly written by Lovett to his father and found inside their apartment during a search yesterday by investigators. "It would be inappropriate to comment on a specific document," Sarubbi said last night. The arrest shattered the calm of a sweltering day in the small borough of Oaklyn, just outside Camden. Police blocked off the street near the small apartment building where Lovett lived as they conducted a search. Outside the ice cream store across the street, teenagers who knew the three said they practiced martial arts, virtually always wore black, and pretty much kept to themselves. "They had that Matrix look down," said Warren Haubois, 16, of Oaklyn. Their plot focused on Oaklyn Public School, a combined elementary and junior high school with about 530 students. The two juveniles attended the middle school. Charles Earling, the principal of Collingswood High School, said last night that he had never heard anything in particular about Lovett before yesterday and was shocked at the news of the arrest. "To my knowledge, we've never had anything like this before. No suspicions, no threats," said Earling. Mathew Rich, who reported the carjacking attempt, told the Associated Press that he was leaving his wife's home when he saw the three, dressed in trench coats and standing in front of a school. One crossed the street in front of him, opened his coat to reveal a handgun, then signaled for his friends. Frantic and fearing for his life, Rich said, he managed to speed up and get past them and then alerted a nearby police officer, who chased down the three. Sarubbi said that Lovett "drew down on his handgun," but that all three of them dropped their weapons when the officer shouted for them to "freeze." "These guys were ready for a war," Rich said. Sarubbi described Lovett as the "shaker and mover" of the alleged plot, and said all of the guns were owned and legally registered by Lovett's father. "They were heavily armed with rifles, shotguns, pistols lodged in their belt and 2,000 rounds of ammunition," said Sarubbi. Ferrari said that three of the targets were fellow students at the Oaklyn school, and that the next group of victims were to be chosen at random. Police said the weapons also included swords and knives. "These individuals were planning on killing as many people as possible in a short time and creating widespread hysteria," Ferrari said in a statement. He said the three "indicated they had previous problems with students at Oaklyn Public School, and potential targets were students here." Outside the ice cream store near the small apartment building where Lovett lived, teenagers gathered last night to talk about the alleged plot and the three teenagers who allegedly set out to carry it out. "They were quiet and scary. They were the weird people you wouldn't mess with because you were afraid they would try something like this," said Eddie Hernandez, 15, who goes to Collingswood High School. "They kept to themselves. I never heard more than one word out of them," said Haubois. In the Collingswood High School yearbook, a quotation attributed to Lovett read: "Listen to the saffron melodies strummed on the brilliant strings of the sunrays." Contact staff writer Emilie Lounsberry at 856-779-3863 or elounsberry@phillynews.com. |
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