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By Brandy Zadrozny and Elizabeth Chuck
An 18-year-old woman who, according to authorities, had a "craze" for the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, seems to have kept an online diary in which she writes about suicide and firearms and alludes to to the "plans" she was developing.
Officials said that the teenager, Sol Pais of Florida, had flown from Miami to Colorado earlier this week, had bought a shotgun and ammunition on his arrival, and then disappeared from their homes. radar, causing a large-scale human hunt. On Wednesday, a law enforcement official told NBC News that she had been found dead.
"There is no more threat to the community," the FBI confirmed in a tweet in Denver. Sheriff Jeff Shrader of Jefferson County, Colorado, later stated that the FBI had found Pais dead from a gunshot wound that had been inflicted on him.
In an apparent newspaper signed with his full name – what the law enforcement forces have not confirmed belongs to him – Pais seems to describe his feeling of being miserable and misplaced, as well as his suicidal thoughts and his desire to obtain weapons. The journal entries are dated from June 2018 to March 30, 2019.
"I would like to have a rifle by the end of the summer," reads in an entry.
Other entries refer to ongoing plans. Another shows drawings of one of Columbine's gunmen, Dylan Klebold.
"I had a dream last night about the future and it was a revelation.Only a week from the day and I had my [expletive] shotgun … ", reads in an entry, a possible reference to the anniversary of the Columbine massacre.
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Investigators say Pais was obsessed with shooting at Columbine High School, which left 12 students and a teacher dead 20 years ago this week and said Tuesday night that she was a "credible threat" to the community and schools in the Denver area.
"Because of her comments and actions, her trip to that state, the acquisition of a weapon immediately after her arrival here, we considered her a credible threat – certainly to the community and potentially for schools, "said Dean Phillips, the FBI's special agent in charge of the Denver Field Office, said at a press conference.
"She had a craze for Columbine and Columbine authors," he added. "She made comments to that effect, but she did not identify any specific threat for any particular school."
After receiving news of the FBI's investigation Tuesday, more than 20 schools, including Columbine, were locked out, which means that the exterior doors were locked due to a threat to outside, but that all classes and activities scheduled inside were going on normally.
The Colorado Department of Education announced on Twitter that all school districts in the Denver Metropolitan Area were closed Wednesday due to "lingering security issues."
While it is unclear whether Pais intended to cause more harm to Columbine, criminal justice experts say it's probably not a coincidence that she flew to Colorado a few days before the 20th anniversary of Columbus. massacre if she was in love with the shooting.
Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI criminal profiler and senior criminal analyst at NBC News, said that copy shooters or aspiring shooters were often obsessed with the date of a tragedy they hoped to emulate.
"You have so much invested in you," Van Zandt said. "Your fantasy, your personal disillusionment around that – you incorporate that into the event itself, and you become a part of the event, the event becomes a part of you."
"For some, psychologically, he might require that they do [a copycat attack] on that date because you spent a lot of time studying that date and you think you are getting more attention for doing it, "he added.
The law enforcement forces are generally strengthening staffing and monitoring before big anniversaries such as this one, "said Tod Burke, a former Maryland police officer and criminal justice expert. He added that the authorities would combine red flags with social media and add an extra protective patrol, both secret and visible, to "let people know that law enforcement is aware."
Van Zandt and Burke both said that although there is not necessarily the typical profile of a mass attacker, Pais stands out as a young woman who seems to be working alone.
But they said it was not the only plot to be obsessed with Columbine, something many attackers have since referred to in their confessions as their model.
Burke said Columbine was a turning point in the attention he attracted.
"It was one of the first to have been captured live on television, so we watched the game unfold, and few previous incidents can say that," he said.
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