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Published April 21, 2006 12:00 am - RIVERTON, Kan. - Five Riverton High School students who were arrested Thursday were involved in a plot to shoot students and school employees, said Cherokee County Sheriff Steve Norman. Five Riverton students arrested in 'violent' plot The Joplin Globe By Roger McKinney
Globe Staff Writer RIVERTON, Kan. - Five Riverton High School students who were arrested Thursday were involved in a plot to shoot students and school employees, said Cherokee County Sheriff Steve Norman. "All indications we were getting was this was going to be a violent incident," Norman said. Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, at a news conference on the steps of the Cherokee County Courthouse in Columbus, said two 16-year-old boys, two 17-year-old boys and an 18-year-old man were arrested in connection with the alleged plot. He did not release their names. He said he would file charges today, and the five would have an initial court appearance. He declined to say what charges he might file. Norman and school district Superintendent David Walters said the incident started Tuesday, when school officials discovered a message posted on the popular Web site www.myspace.com. The message urged Riverton High School students to celebrate Adolf Hitler's birthday and the Columbine shooting anniversary on Thursday by wearing bulletproof vests to school. "We determined who posted it," Walters said. He said the matter was handled internally. Since there was no specific threat, officials did not inform law-enforcement authorities, he said. "One might describe it as one of those things that in our culture causes concern, but is not in and of itself an illegal act," Walters wrote in a memo that was given to students to take home to parents at the end of the school day. Walters said there were more rumors in the hallways on Wednesday, and administrators talked with more students. "After school on Wednesday, I met with the building principals and discussed the rumors, and we determined some actions that we could take that would further guarantee student safety on Thursday and put those plans into action immediately," Walters wrote in the memo. Shortly after that, the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department contacted him. Norman said someone with a sheriff's department in North Carolina contacted his department on Wednesday. The North Carolina official said that a girl in that jurisdiction had called the department after communicating with a Riverton student on MySpace who had indicated there was going to be a shooting in Riverton that resembled the Columbine shootings. Norman said an officer in his department contacted the girl to confirm the report and get additional information. Members of the Sheriff's Department and school officials met Wednesday night about the new information. Norman said some high-school students came forward with information that they had been threatened in person by students at the school. "The threats were specific," Norman said. 
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