WINONA, Texas — **EDITOR'S NOTE: CBS19 has chosen not to identify the student or display his mugshot due to him being a minor.
An arrest warrant is shedding new light on the recent arrest of a Winona sophomore for terroristic threat.
According to the Smith County Sheriff's Office, on Wednesday, Dec. 10, the FBI National Threat Operations Center (NTOC) received an anonymous tip concerning the threat of a school shooting at an unknown date and time in the Smith County area. This information was assigned to the FBI Tyler Division as well as investigators with the Smith County Sheriff’s Office. The investigation into this threat began that morning.
The SCSO says a Smith County investigator and two FBI agents responded to Winona High School where they met with school administrators. Through their initial investigation, they were able to identify the suspect as a 17-year-old sophomore student at Winona High School. Authorities say evidence was gathered, including documentation of credible threats of death and serious bodily injury to individual students at the high school.
After obtaining the warrant, investigators and deputies responded to the teen's place of employment on Hwy 271 N. in Smith County.
According to the arrest warrant, the suspect has been diagnosed with Bi-Polar Disorder. He also was made to carry a clear backpack by Winona ISD due to him reportedly making statements that made fellow students fear he would bring a weapon to school and harm them, the warrant states. The suspect also had a "Death Note" notepad that he draws and lists names in. The warrant states, on an unknown date, Winona ISD made copies of the notepad's contents and gave it back to the suspect. There were five names in the "Death Note" when the suspect was arrested.
The warrant states on Dec. 1, 2021, students at Winona High School began reporting to school staff the suspect said if he wore a yellow shirt to school, it meant he was going to "shoot up the school." The next day, which was also two days after the tragic school shooting in Oxford, MI, the suspect wore a sweatshirt with yellow drawstrings on it, making students believe he would carry out his threat. The district made the suspect go home and change, but he came back with another sweatshirt with a yellow logo. The school allowed him to stay, but said if there were any issues, he'd have to turn his shirt inside out.
On Dec. 3, the arrest warrant states the suspect got into an argument with a female student that spilled over into social media.
According to the warrant, on Dec. 7, an aide stated they saw the suspect drawing a picture. The aide stated the suspect said, "I have to draw the dead white girl instead of doing this work." The aide said the suspect then provided the name of the girl he was drawing. He was then sent to his "cool down teacher" who helps him when he's having a hard time with his mental state.
The teacher set a 15-minute timer and when time was up, she went back to see how the suspect was feeling. The warrant states the suspect said he just "wanted to kill" and go back and "finish drawing the picture of the girl he wanted to kill." The teacher also stated the suspect said he was a "Mason and part of being a Mason, is you have to kill someone."
That same day, the warrant states the suspect was suspended for cutting himself with scissors. He said was going to be "violent against a female, but cut himself instead because he didn't want to go to jail." However, the warrant states the suspect said he never threatened to take a gun to school and had no intentions on shooting up the school.
The suspect was booked into the Smith County Jail where he remains on $1 million bond.