William Whitworth, who identifies as a female named Lilly, is accused of planning school shootings in Colorado. (School photo is a screengrab from CBS Colorado; the mugshot is from the District Attorney’s Office in the 18th Judicial District in Colorado)
A 19-year-old suspect accused of planning shootings at schools and churches in Colorado had a manifesto naming people to be targeted, the locations of schools, and instructions on how to make guns with a 3D printer, authorities said.
William Whitworth, who identifies as “Lilly Whitworth,” faces attempted murder and other charges in the case, outlined in an affidavit obtained by Law&Crime.
The document details how the case came about after a deputy with the Elbert County Sheriff’s Office responded on March 31 to a disturbance in unincorporated Elbert, 55 miles south of Denver.
The suspect’s sister told deputies she had severe anger issues, punched holes in the walls and threatened to shoot up a school and had recently made comments about it, the affidavit said.
At the home, the sister told deputies she was asleep, and deputies would have to go around the side to get in due to boxes piled upstairs, the document said.
Inside, the house was littered with trash, making it hard to walk, authorities said. Containers filled with half-eaten food and mold growing inside, and numerous alcoholic beverage containers littered the place. The walls were damaged with what appeared to be punch marks. The door to a bedroom was off its hinges and lying beside the opening.
In the suspect’s room, trash was piled as high as the bed, and the white sheets were strained brown. the affidavit said. The deputy stepped over the trash and had to reach out to touch the suspect on the foot to wake her up.
She appeared to be drowsy and could not stay awake.
When police spoke with Whitworth, she allegedly said she had been planning the shooting for a month or two and that her former school, Timberview Middle School in Colorado Springs, was one of the “main targets.” Other targets were churches, police said.
She allegedly told the deputy she had started a manifesto with “schizophrenic rants” and a page referring to “a bunch of mass killers.’
On a dry-erase board downstairs, deputies said they saw what looked like a labeled floor plan of a school listing the following:
- Office???
- Bio?
- Math
- Bathrooms
- Eng or Lit?
- Social Studys [sic]?
- BandComp
- And the floors labeled bottom floor and second floor.
In notebooks, deputies found the following:
- Drawing of what appears to be an office desk set up.
- Further floor plans.
- Drawing of a clock to use as a detonation device and instructions for detonation.
- Is this what they meant when they said making a mockery of the massacre?
Names with comments were listed in a notebook:
- Eric and Dylan: Losers
- Adam Lanza: To smart
- Isreal Keyes: Degenerate
- Ed Kemper: Broken
- Lauren Southern: Pathetic
- Vaush: Terrorist
- Donald J. Trump: Con-man
- Bad cops: Useless garbage
- Stockholm, Name: Liam K.
“I asked Lilly about the picture of the detonator, and she stated that she watched the video on YouTube about how to do it,” wrote Elbert County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeffery Moore in his affidavit. “Lilly then proceeded to explain how bad YouTube safety procedures were.”
She was read her Miranda rights, told deputies she didn’t know if she wanted to continue to talk to authorities, and no further questions were asked, officials said.
She was booked into the Elbert County Jail at 9:15 p.m.
Police later recovered a leather-bound book with a metal clasp. Written inside was: “Ways I want to die with a list stating murder, burning alive, freezing, and drowning.”
Deputies outlined the manifesto:
- A list of firearms and how to 3D print them
- Detailed lists of numerous named individuals to be killed and their intended casualty versus injury rate.
- Information detailing the creation of improvised explosive devices.
- The finalization of locations being Timberview Middle School, Prarie Hill Elementary, and Pine Creek High School.
A neighbor told CBS Colorado the family who moved in a few years ago kept to themselves.
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