Daytona Beach police seized a semi-automatic rifle and hundreds of rounds of bullets from a student on his way to school.
Daytona Beach police Chief Jakari Young said a mass shooting at the university was prevented when a student was caught walking out of his apartment with a rifle and hundreds of bullets.
The suspect, John Hagins, 19, was taken into custody at 9:30 a.m. at the Andros Isle Apartments in Daytona Beach.
Young said that Hagins had planned to carry out a mass shooting on the last day of classes at the University.
Young said that the plan was for him to leave from his apartment and head to Daytona Top Gun for practice.
The Daytona man was arrested after his ex-girlfriend reported that he was threatening to shoot people.
The DeLand LGBTQ+ community gathered downtown to remember the 5-year anniversary of the massacre.
Daytona Beach police Chief Jakari Young holds up a semi-automatic rifle that was seized from a student who planned to shoot up the school.
The campus would have been packed on Thursday.
The last day before winter break is today. Today is the last day of finals, so this was all part of the plan, because everybody has to be there to take their final exam, so this was all in his plan.
A couple students who were part of a group that Hagins was in warned officials of threats he made on social media.
The students were alarmed by the threats to shoot up the school, including one that said, "I finished my school shopping" and made reference to Hagins' 9mm Keltec rifle, which had almost 300 rounds of ammunition.
Young said that the two students came forward and prevented the university from being the next national media story about a mass shooting.
Police were notified and investigators began looking for Hagins. Police surrounded his apartment when they found out he lived at the Andros Isle Apartments.
Young said that Hagins came out of his apartment as police waited for a warrant.
Young said that after detaining him, they noticed that he had a magazine in his backpack. Young said that the backpack contained a collapsible rifle.
Tim Ehrenhaufer said that Hagins was shocked to find police surrounding his home. Ehrenkaufer said that he asked how long police had been waiting outside.
Young said there were boxes of 9mm in the backpack. There were five loaded magazines, each holding 17 rounds, and an extended magazine in the bag. The chief said that the rifle scope was with the weapon.
Young said that he was loaded for bear.
Hagins told investigators that the threats were a joke.
"He may want to say that it was a joke and he wasn't serious about it, but we don't find anything funny about discussing a mass shooting on a campus," Young said. He has it if he was looking for attention. I don't think he wanted the attention that he has.
Police said a student planned a shooting.
Young was surprised to learn that Hagins was thinking of a mass shooting in Colorado in 1999 when he got the call about the plot.
Young said that he referenced the 1999 school shooting. He said he was going to campus to shoot people after he finished at the firing range.
Ginger Pinholster said that Hagins was an undergraduate student at the university.
Pinholster wouldn't comment on how Hagins was doing in school or if he had any issues at the university.
Pinholster wanted to say that we are safe and secure. There is no reason to believe there are any more threats.
The Daytona Beach Police Department was working closely with the university. The police activity did not necessitate a lock down, according to the statement.
The university said that the student cannot return to the campus.
Hagins' grade point average had fallen below a 2.0 average, and police are still trying to figure out what caused him to plan the shooting.
The Daytona Beach police said that Hagins was in danger of failing classes at EraU and was also cited for a traffic violation.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal had an article about a student being arrested for a school shooting plot.
