Student charged with planning shooting attack at Illinois high school
May 16, 2007
17-year-old allegedly told friends not to come to school on the day his attack was to take place
A student at Fenton High School in Bensenville, Ill., who was allegedly plotting a "Columbine-style" shooting at the school using his grandfather's weapons, was overheard warning peers and now stands charged with solicitation of murder and intimidation. Prosecutors say Matthew Balman, 17, planned to provoke police into killing him. Balman was arrested May 8, a day before the date that he had told fellow students not to come to school. The students relayed the information to officials, who contacted the police
