Sandy Hook Promise Prevents a Mass School Shooting in Indiana

NEWTOWN, Conn., Feb. 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- After an Upstander took heroic steps to report their concerns to the Sandy Hook Promise Anonymous Reporting System, law enforcement was able to intervene and prevent a planned school attack at Mooresville High School in Indiana this week. An 18-year-old suspect was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit murder, and other charges, after authorities conducted an investigation and uncovered numerous written threats, other materials that idolized former mass shooters, and high-capacity magazines and ammunition in a parent's bedroom. The tipster reported the suspect had access to firearms and had been planning the attack for up to a year.

This attack was planned for February 14, the same date of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida. Law enforcement states the Indiana suspect was a "fan" of the Parkland shooting perpetrator and had written to them in prison.

According to local media sources who cite court documents in this recent case, the tip about this planned attack initially came in through Sandy Hook Promise's Say Something Anonymous Reporting System. The National Crisis Center of the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System immediately reported these threats to the FBI, per protocol.

In response, Nicole Hockley, co-founder and co-CEO of Sandy Hook Promise and mother of Dylan who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, issued the following statement: 

"This is a bittersweet day for us. While we remember the lives tragically taken at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School seven years ago today, we are grateful that the Mooresville community was spared. This story illustrates the lifesaving impact of recognizing warning signs, taking it seriously, and acting immediately to get help. It only takes one person to 'say something' for lives to be saved. Threats are never a joke.

"The outcome from these events in Mooresville provides renewed hope that we can end school shootings. Learn the warning signs of violence and become an upstander in prevention, rather than a bystander to violence.

"We are also grateful for law enforcement's ongoing investigation into the online and social media habits of this suspect. It's a fact that the firearms industry has been marketing deadly products to our children for years, causing great harm in its wake. Marketing materials like these equate firearms and violence with personal power, which takes advantage of the vulnerabilities of young people and must be stopped. This is not the future anyone should want for the young people in our country."

With the prevention of this most recent tragedy, Sandy Hook Promise has averted at least 17 credible planned school shooting attacks. Strict criteria are used to assess a prevented attack, including from where the initial information came, law enforcement investigation confirming the threat is credible, with access to a weapon and a plan. In addition to the 17 confirmed prevented attacks based on this criteria, Sandy Hook Promise has averted countless other acts of violence, suicide, and self-harm since its founding.

Sandy Hook Promise (SHP) envisions a future where all children are free from school shootings and other acts of violence. As a national nonprofit organization, SHP's mission is to educate and empower youth and adults to prevent violence in schools, homes, and communities. Creators of the life-saving, evidence-informed "Know the Signs" prevention programs, SHP teaches the warning signs of someone who may be in crisis, socially isolated, or at-risk of hurting themselves or others and how to get help. SHP also advances school safety, youth mental health, and responsible gun ownership at the state and federal levels through nonpartisan policy and partnerships. SHP is led by several family members whose loved ones were killed in the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. 

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SOURCE Sandy Hook Promise