Alabama Teen, Inspired By Newtown, Planned Racist School Attack

Personal journal shows student targeted teachers, African American students

An Alabama teenager, who describes himself as a white supremacist, is accused of plotting an attack on black students and school teachers, apparently inspired by last month’s shooting massacre in Newtown, Conn.. The Russell County Sheriff’s office says Derek Shrout (pictured) is charged with attempted assault after authorities say he planned to use homemade explosives – fashioned from small tobacco cans and other materials containing pellets – along with firearms in an attack that he wrote about in a journal discovered by a teacher. In the journal, five of the six students Shrout named as targets are African American. Sheriff Heath Taylor said the connection to Sandy Hook Elementary School was made because the journal entry was dated three days after the massacre, which resulted in the deaths of 20 schoolchildren and six adults. Shrout’s attorney says the allegations are blown out of proportion and that he never intended to hurt anyone. (Washington Post)

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