Who Is William Whitworth? Trans Teen Arrested Over School Shooting Plot
The Gazette that Whitworth was in the process of transitioning from male to female, a detail that is likely to inflame a new controversy among rightwingers and conservatives, who, after the Nashville school shooting, have been lashing out at the trans community.Last week, former President Donald Trump suggested that clinical treatment for gender transitioning could have played a role in the Nashville killings, a claim which Newsweek has found to be unverified.
Audrey Hale opened fire at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, last month, killing six people, including three children.The suspect has been formally charged with two counts of criminal attempt to commit murder in the first degree; criminal mischief; menacing; interference with staff, faculty, or students of educational institutions and is currently in custody.
In arrest documents, the suspect is referred to as she/her.According to authorities quoted by local media, Whitworth was a former student of the Colorado Springs school district, having attended school in the area between 2014 and 2016.
Police recovered a manifesto from her home where she reportedly mentioned mass school shooters and their casualty versus injury rate, detailed a list of firearms and how to 3D print them, and which contained locations of schools in Colorado Springs District 20.The affidavit, obtained by Fox News, states that Whitworth told investigators that she was working on the school shooting plan for "a month or two" and was "about a third of the way from doing it." Her "main target" was Timberview Middle School, but Prairie Hill Elementary and Pine Creek High School were also potential targets, as well as churches in the area.
