HOUSTON A Katy teen is accused of hatching a sinister plan to kill as many little kids as possible in a shooting rampage and posting about it in an online chatroom, according to the Houston FBI task force.
Patrick Joseph Hudson, 19, was charged with making a terroristic threat.
Local FBI agents were forwarded a tip on October 2 from a person who was concerned about Hudson s postings in an online chatroom.
The tipster, who was from North Carolina, said a person in the overclock.net chatroom using the name SS_Patrick was making threatening comments to go on a shooting rampage at a Katy-area school.
The tipster then forwarded eight pages of chat logs containing the posts from SS_Patrick to investigators.
The posts read what better way to go out with a bang than killing a bunch of little kids, followed by Don t want to live through the trails [sic] and jaile [sic]...so I off myself in the classroom.
The person threatened to shoot as many kids as possible, but said he would leave a select few alive because they would grow up scarred for life, according to investigators.
The poster noted that elementary schools did not have police officers and it usually takes police four-and- a-half minutes to respond to calls. That would give him time to do as much damage as possible, he explained.
SS_Patrick also spoke of plans to record the rampage. He said he wanted to live stream the entire shooting with a Go Pro camera and even asked if anyone could give him instructions on how to do it. He also wanted to store the video on a secure server so that everyone could see it.
Investigators said SS_Patrick spoke of admiration for Jeff Weise, a man who went on a shooting rampage in 2005.
Authorities said on March 21, 2005, Weise killed nine people. He first killed his grandfather and his grandfather s girlfriend, then killed seven people at Red Lake Senior High School. Five other students were injured in the shooting. Weise committed suicide after a brief shootout with police.
FBI agents created an undercover account with overclock.net and gained access to the site. They looked up SS_Patrick and read the posts. They also saw a picture depicting the name Patrick Hudson uploaded on the site. FBI agents had read enough and immediately began to track down the teen.
They went to Hudson s listed home address and talked to his mother. Agents said at his mother wasinitially uncooperative, then said she warned her son to be more cautious about what he posted on the Internet. She told them her son was at work at an Office Max in Rosenberg.
They called Office Max and spoke to Hudson, who told them he was about to make a delivery to a nearby elementary school. Agents told him not to go anywhere and they needed to speak to him immediately.
Agents met with him in the Office Max parking lot and told him what they discovered. Hudson said his postings were all a joke and some of the language was lyrics from a song.
Agents took Hudson back to his home and asked to search his computer. At first Hudson agreed, but withdrew consent after about 15 minutes. Agents left with enough evidence to charge Hudson.
Parentswere stunned to hear the news Wednesday.
It s disconcerting, but I think we have a pretty good team because police officers are now all involved in the classrooms at school and anything that comes up, said Alicia Oliva.
It's just crazy. Why would somebody want to do that? asked Marcos Cortizar. That's ludicrous.
Hudson s bail was set at $100,000.
The Katy ISD superintendent sent a letter home to the parents Tuesday which included the following statement:
Katy ISD was notified by the FBI yesterday that threatening statements were made by an individual in an Internet chat room towards an elementary school. While no specific school or district was named, the district was made aware of the situation as the suspect lives in Katy. It was determined that there was no immediate threat to any Katy ISD district campus or facility as the suspect was in the company of FBI agents throughout the day. The individual was later charged and arrested for making a terroristic threat.
The purpose of this message is not to alarm you, but to let you know that potential threats are always taken seriously. Whenever potential threats are brought to the attention of the district, we will work with area law enforcement to determine its credibility and take the appropriate measures to ensure the safety of all students and staff.
