A teenager accused of planning a shooting at a Cape Cod school was released Wednesday after posting bail, officials said.
The 18-year-old, Ian Fotheringham, was found with a 3D printer that can produce a firearm, and had images of the deadly Columbine High School shooting on his phone, the Cape & Islands District Attorney’s Office said Friday. A search of his Falmouth home in August — prompted by a tip that he wanted to enact a school shooting — had found no illegal guns.
Fotheringham faced a charge of threatened use of a deadly weapon in a public building in Barnstable District Court on Friday and was ordered held until a dangerousness hearing Tuesday, prosecutors said. During that hearing a judge ruled he could be released by posting $2,500 bail to home confinement with GPS monitoring. He was released on Wednesday morning.
Despite the conditions, his release has parents on edge.
A terrified Falmouth mother, with two kids who go to Teaticket Elementary School, spoke with NBC10 Boston, but chose to remain anonymous for her safety.
Her children were home with her, in the middle of the day, during our interview because of Fotheringham’s release, despite a police cruiser in the parking lot of the school.
“It doesn’t help me feel safe for my kids,” the anonymous mother said. “I want to see the police there all day for the foreseeable future, and they need to be there for arrival, dismissal, recess, whenever the kids are outside.”
NBC10 Boston obtained a copy of an email sent by Falmouth school officials to parents saying in part:
“At least for the next two weeks, the Falmouth Police Department will provide detail officers at each of our elementary schools,” Falmouth school officials said in an email to parents obtained by NBC10 Boston. “Our SROs will remain on site.”
The school district is investing in a new lock system in an effort to keep students safe in the case of a school shooting.
Fotheringham’s home was searched twice, according to prosecutors. The first time was prompted by the tip, which involved him saying he was refurbishing funs in his room, the second after a person was seen walking in the woods near Teaticket Elementary School, leading safety monitors to believe he was studying the area for a shooting.
State and local police took Fotheringham into custody on Thursday about 12:30 p.m.
Scores of people have been killed in American schools since the Columbine shooting, which left 12 people dead. A wounded survivor, Anne Marie Hochhalter, died this year, and her death was ruled a homicide, with her two gunshot wounds determined to be a “significant contributing factor” a forensic pathologist wrote in a report.
About the Author
