Man accused of threats attended school where student gunman killed seven

Associated Press

Sat, May 17 2008

— ANADARKO, Okla. (AP) - A young man who allegedly threatened to shoot students and detonate chemical bombs in two Oklahoma school districts attended the same school where a teenager killed seven people and himself nearly three years ago, officials said.
Caddo County prosecutors on Tuesday charged Joshua James Hunter, 20, with committing a terrorist hoax, threatening to perform an act of violence and arson.
Last week, school officials in Chickasha and Lawton placed schools throughout the districts on lockdown after Anadarko police reported receiving a call from someone who threatened violence in both cities.
According to court documents, Hunter planned for multiple friends to release chemical bombs and randomly shoot students at Eisenhower High School in Lawton and Chickasha High School in a 70-minute span. The motivation was "to make a statement," investigators said.
Court documents allege Hunter laid out his terrorist plan Thursday to Kim Mandujano, prompting the woman to alert authorities. Police arrested Hunter at his home that afternoon.
Hunter was a student at Red Lake High School in Beltrami County, Minn., when fellow student Jeffrey Weise shot and killed a teacher, a security guard and five students. Weise wounded seven others and committed suicide after police cornered him.
Hunter, then 17, left the school March 31, 2005, according to school records.
"The news (about Hunter) doesn't surprise me," Brent Gish, Red Lake's superintendent, told the Oklahoman. "I think we're learning every day the after-effects of what took place here."
Mandujano told police she encountered Hunter on Thursday morning after he claimed to have committed arson behind the Anadarko Police Department.
Court records state Hunter asked Mandujano if she could smell gasoline on him.
The Anadarko resident could face as much as 35 years in prison if he's convicted on all three counts.