Details Given in School Killing Plot

By DAVID GOODMAN, AP - May 13 '99

PORT HURON, Mich. (AP) - Four middle school students plotted to force their principal at gunpoint to call an assembly, then massacre those at the gathering, several classmates testified Thursday.  The four then planned to kill themselves, one student said during a preliminary court hearing for two of the accused students.  The hearing produced some of the first details of the alleged massacre plan since the boys were charged on May 13 - just over three weeks after 15 people died at Columbine High School in Colorado.

The hearing was held to determine whether there is enough evidence for the 14-year-old boys, Justin Schnepp and Jedaiah Zinzo, who is called David, to stand trial as adults on charges of conspiracy to commit murder. The maximum sentence is life in prison.

A similar examination is scheduled for June 1 for the two other accused boys, Jonathan McDonald and Daniel Fick, both 13. They are being prosecuted as adults in juvenile court. If convicted, they could be sentenced to juvenile detention or sentenced as adults.  Schnepp's attorney, Frederick Lepley, said the case should be dropped.

``There's a big difference between talking about something in class to impress your friends and carrying that out,'' he said.  Prosecutors presented eight witnesses - seven classmates and a police officer.

One student, Ryan Ranshaw, 14, said the boys sought his help in planning the massacre as they sat in the back of English class in Holland Woods Middle School on May 10. He said he declined.  ``Justin said they were going to shoot up the school,'' he said.  ``They were going to go to the office, call an assembly, then go to the gym and shoot people.''

Another student, Dana Thomas, 12, testified that she and Schnepp, McDonald and Fick were playing under a bridge on May 10 when Fick told her the four were plotting an attack.  ``Dan started a conversation about a Colorado repeat,'' she said. ``He said he, Jon and David were going to shoot up the school, then commit suicide,'' Dana said.

The judge did not immediately rule on whether the boys should be tried. He gave attorneys for both sides until June 11 to submit briefs.

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