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She made a hard, but necessary choice
By Jonathan Alfano — Written on Jul 25, 2022
A Washington mom was faced with a heartbreaking choice after discovering her son was planning a mass shooting that could have taken and ruined many lives.
In 2019, Nicole Schubert, 41, found her then-17-year-old son’s journal while cleaning her house. Her son wrote plans in the notebook to attack his high school in Washington on April 20, 2020, 21 years after the Columbine shooting.
The terrified mother decided to turn her son into the police to prevent the shooting.
“I did what I did because I wanted to save the lives of others and my son,” Schubert told Good Morning America. “I knew he would be safer in jail. If there’s a possibility to save even one person, one child, I think it’s worth it.”
Schubert pondered what to do for a day after finding the notebook. She said her first instinct was to protect her child, but knew that doing so could end in catastrophe.
“It wasn’t just about me and him at that point, It was about a whole school – hundreds of people, hundreds of kids, children. I knew most of them. They were his friends. I have known these kids when they were just babies. How could I let it go?”
Police arrested her son when he returned from school later that day. He plead guilty to a felony charge to bomb or injure property, as well as a misdemeanor harassment charge. Authorities also confiscated a six-inch knife hidden in his pocket.
Schubert’s son claims what he wrote was just a story and that he did not plan to act on it.
He wrote that he planned to kill his mother too.
Schubert described the feeling of seeing her son write about killing her as “heartbreaking.”
“It was very descriptive, it was just heartbreaking,” Schubert told the Wall Street Journal. “I didn’t, I didn’t really want to know the details.”
“He planned to begin his massacre at 5 a.m. that morning by murdering me, his mother, and my boyfriend, and would begin shooting up his school at 12:20 pm later that day. ‘Kill everyone possible, fight to the death or kill self after maximum damage has occurred,’ that’s what he wrote.”
Following his arrest, a court ordered Schubert’s son to 20 hours of community service and 18 months of community service. They also ordered him to stop going to school and complete a mental evaluation program.
Schubert said that her son finished high school after his arrest, and is planning to attend college soon. She added that he is receiving help for his depression.
Schubert said that she doesn’t have any regrets about calling the police on her son. She called on parents to remain active in the children’s lives and notice warning signs before it’s too late.
“Stay in their business,” Schubert said. “Even if they don’t like it. They’re not going to like it.
"But as parents, it’s our job to know what our kids are doing. Just be aware and watch for signs. Kids will normally tell you by their actions when something is wrong.”
Jonathan Alfano is a writer who focuses on news and entertainment topics. Follow him on Twitter to keep up with his content.