Florida shooting suspect made threats against his middle school in 2013

Documents show that years before the 19-year-old man fired a shotgun at a Florida high school, injuring one, he had threatened to open fire at his middle school. 

Suspected shooter Sky Bouche, 19, of Crystal River, Florida, was arrested on April 20 after firing a shotgun into a door at Forest High School in Ocala, Florida. 

But, an October 2013 police report revealed that Bouche had posted potential shooting threats against his middle school in the comments section of a YouTube video about Colorado’s 1999 Columbine school mass shooting. 

Newly unearthed documents reveal that suspected school shooter Sky Bouche, 19, had made threats against his middle school in comments on Columbine school shooting YouTube videos

The 2013 report, unearthed by The Ocala Star Banner, noted that Bouche’s YouTube comment said, ‘I’m thinking about doing my school the same way, I have enough guns and ammo. I have been planning for months, but not sure when to do it.’

At the time Bouche wrote the comment, he was a student at Osceola Middle School in Ocala. 

Bouche’s comments were flagged to the Ocala Police Department by a Marion County sheriff’s official, who was part of the FBI’s Safe Streets task force, because Bouche’s ‘numerous inflamed derogatory comments’ had set off warning signals. 

The OPD report also mentioned that Bouche had also posted comments saying that ‘everybody will know my name’, was taking Prozac for mental health reasons and had admitted to considering suicide. 

According to the OPD report, Bouche was pulled from class and interviewed about the YouTube comments, at which point he admitted that he had posted the comments himself in June 2013, during school summer vacation.

A 2013 police report stated that Bouche had been investigated for allegedly threatening a mass shooting at Osceola Middle School, when he was still a student there

A 2013 police report stated that Bouche had been investigated for allegedly threatening a mass shooting at Osceola Middle School, when he was still a student there

Authorities declined to charge Bouche (pictured April 20) after investigating the 2013 threats, claiming that they were a mental health issue and not specific threats to harm people. At the time he said that he made the threats as a way to gain attention

Authorities declined to charge Bouche (pictured April 20) after investigating the 2013 threats, claiming that they were a mental health issue and not specific threats to harm people. At the time he said that he made the threats as a way to gain attention

On April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine massacre, Bouche entered Forest High School armed with a shotgun, firing at a locked door and wounded a 17-year-old male student

On April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine massacre, Bouche entered Forest High School armed with a shotgun, firing at a locked door and wounded a 17-year-old male student

Bouche claimed that he had only made the comments as a way to gain attention because he ‘felt hopeless’ and was experiencing family problems and wasn’t mentally stable.

He also denied owning any firearms. 

When authorities checked his home for guns, they only found realistic gun replicas including air soft, BB and pellet guns. 

Following the investigation into Bouche’s YouTube comments, school officials reportedly referred Bouche for a suicide and violence-risk assessment and had the school’s guidance counselor speak with him. 

No criminal charges were filed against Bouche at the time, as the alleged threats against the middle school were not deemed specific threats about harming anybody at the school and the posts seemed to be the fallout of a mental issue.   

Speaking with The Ocala Star-Banner after the April 20 shooting, he revealed that he once wanted to join the Marines but could not as he was ‘Baker Acted when I was 14,’ meaning he was committed for a mental health evaluation at the age of 14. 

Bouche entered Forest High School in Ocala, armed with a shotgun on April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine massacre, and the very same day students across the nation participated in a walkout to protest gun violence.

Bouche shot at a locked door where pellets ricocheted off the door and wounded a 17-year-old male student.

He was taken down by a school resource officer and arrested, just three minutes after he opened fire.

A detective’s report revealed that Bouche had a 17.5 inch shotgun concealed in a guitar case that he brought into school.

After entering he went to the bathroom, put on a tactical vest and gloves, then walked into the hallway where he shot the door.

The day after the Forest High School shooting, Bouche gave a televised interview from behind bars, recalling the shooting. 

‘I prepared to go and scare people,’ Bouche told KTVU.

‘Put my shotgun in my guitar case, took two pills of Phenibut, put my tactical vest in my backpack and went to Forest,’ Bouche said. 

Phenibut is an anti-anxiety medication which is banned in the US but obtainable online.

When asked why he did it, Bouche replied: ‘It’s just built up since I was a young child. Just not around good things, a lot of mental illness, some violence, mostly neglect.’

‘I don’t know, it just wasn’t a good day,’ he said. 

Bouche was taken down by a school resource officer and arrested, just minutes opening fire

Bouche was taken down by a school resource officer and arrested, just minutes opening fire

Bouche was denied bail due to the  nature of the charges that span terrorism, aggravated assault with a firearm, carrying a concealed firearm and armed trespass on school property

Bouche was denied bail due to the  nature of the charges that span terrorism, aggravated assault with a firearm, carrying a concealed firearm and armed trespass on school property

Bouche said that when he entered the school a girl walked by him, but he hesitated in pulling out the gun. ‘I just didn’t want to shoot or kill people, because at that point the adrenaline and the excitement just kind of faded immediately.’

Instead, he said fired through a door and dropped the gun, thinking he hadn’t hit anyone. But a 17-year-old boy on the other side of the door was struck in the ankle.

‘I could have pumped the shotgun. I didn’t, I just dropped it,’ Bouche said. Addressing the injured student he added, ‘There’s nothing I can say, I can say sorry all I want, but he can think what he wants.’

‘This is what I wanted, was to be away from everyone else, so I’m not hurting anyone else,’ he said, sitting stony faced in jailhouse stripes. ‘That was my primary goal. Cause I knew if I didn’t, you know, snap now, it would have been later and it would’ve been a hundred times worse.’

Bouche was denied bail at his first court appearance on Saturday.

Judge Willard Pope at Marion County Jail told Bouche he would be held without bond due nature of the charges that span terrorism, aggravated assault with a firearm, carrying a concealed firearm and armed trespass on school property. 

Bouche had been planning a shooting for some time.

He told detectives he wanted to do it on Friday the 13th but changed his mind.

He added he wanted to do a church shooting at first but decided to go with a school shooting as it ‘creates more attention’.

He added that he was prompted to complete Friday’s shooting after suffering nightmares.

He said wanted to go to jail as he could ‘potentially conduct another shooting in the future’ the detective report stated.     



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