A 14-year-old boy accused of plotting a Columbine-style attack on a suburban Philadelphia high school admitted in court Friday that he illegally stockpiled weapons.
Dillon Cossey, 14, admitted to three crimes - criminal solicitation, risking a catastrophe and possession of an instrument of crime - in Montgomery County juvenile court.
Cossey, a home-schooled student from Plymouth Township, was arrested earlier this month. He tried to recruit another boy in the plan, which included chaining shut the doors at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School, Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. said Friday.
He had amassed a stockpile of weapons, including a 9 mm semiautomatic rifle, about 30 air-powered guns modeled to look like higher-powered weapons, swords, knives, a bomb-making book, videos of the 1999 Columbine high school attack in Colorado and violence-filled notebooks, authorities said.
The boy will be placed in juvenile custody. The longest he can remain there is until his 21st birthday.
Authorities accused Cossey's mother, Michele, of helping him build his weapons cache.
Michele Cossey, 46, is charged with illegally buying her son a .22-caliber handgun, a .22-caliber rifle and a 9 mm semiautomatic rifle with a laser scope.