A 19-year-old male teenager who identifies as transgender has been arrested on suspicion of planning mass shootings at schools in Colorado Springs, Colorado, according to a report from Reduxx.
The news comes following a shooting last month in which another transgender-identified individual, Audrey Hale, a biological female who used “he/him” pronouns, carried out a mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. That tragedy resulted in the deaths of three schoolchildren, three school staff members, as well as the shooter.
William Whitworth was taken into custody on March 31 after his sister reported that he had made references to school shootings and was behaving violently.
Whitworth, who was born male but uses “she/her” pronouns and goes by the name “Lilly” or “Lily,” has admitted to planning the shootings at schools in the area.
According to Eric Ross, a spokesperson for the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, Whitworth is transitioning from male to female.
Police found Whitworth drunk in his room, which was in a state of extreme disrepair, with trash piled up around the house making it hard to walk inside.
“There were numerous containers filled with half eaten food with mold growing inside and numerous alcoholic beverage containers laying around the house,” the arrest record states, according to the report.
A manifesto containing the names of mass shooters and a notebook with instructions on how to make firearms and bombs were also found in the house.
Whitworth had made a floor plan of Timberview Middle School, which was described as a “main target,” as well as Prairie Hills Elementary and Pine Creek High School.
The police also discovered a detailed hit list of people Whitworth wanted to murder.
Whitworth told police that churches were among other “targets” and admitted to watching YouTube videos on how to make a detonator.
Whitworth is charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder, menacing, criminal mischief, and interference with staff, faculty, or students of educational institutions.
There we no weapons found in Whitworth’s home, and he said there was “no specific reason” planned to commit mass murder.
Whitworth is being held on a $75,000 bond.
He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on May 5.
The police used “she/her” pronouns to refer to Whitworth in their arrest report, and local media either avoided using pronouns or used “she/her” pronouns, Reduxx notes.
