A 19-year-old college student from High Point University in North Carolina has been arrested after a tip from his roommate. Paul Steber reportedly threatened to shoot other students and had recently purchased two guns, which police found in his room. After his arrest, he confessed to investigators that he’d been thinking about carrying out a campus shooting for months.
From CBS affiliate WBZ in Boston:
Steber had been watching videos to learn how to carry out a mass shooting, Assistant District Attorney Lori Wickline said in court.
“He told officers that he definitely had a plan, something that he had been thinking about since Christmas of last year,” she said.
She later added: “And he had been recently watching videos of the Charleston mass shooting down in South Carolina and other mass shootings so that he could learn what to do and what not to do.”
Steber allegedly planned to shoot his roommate and himself if he didn’t get into a fraternity. He is charged with two felony counts of having weapons on campus and communicating a threat of mass violence on educational property.
Martin Lentz, a former classmate of Steber at the Newman School, a private school in Boston, said there were red flags about him in high school. From Boston station WFXT:
In an interview with Boston 25 News, Steber's former classmate at Newman School, Martin Lentz says Steber was known for his radical views and says he spoke often of guns and gun rights.
"I remember back in our economics class together, I sat right behind him and I could see the stuff he was looking up," said Lentz. "He spent a lot of time looking up NRA, guns, politicians and also the 2016 election results."
Lentz said Steber identified himself as a conservative Republican, unusual behavior at a progressive prep school.
"He was definitely ostracized to a degree," said Lentz. "I tried to treat him well but I know I got into some arguments with him because of his political views."
He reportedly wanted to attend school in North Carolina because it was easier to obtain guns, and he reportedly told former classmates that he needed guns to protect himself from illegal aliens.
Steber is currently receiving a mental health evaluation and is not eligible for bond.