The 18-year-old student charged with bringing a handgun to West Geauga High School with plans to shoot multiple students appeared before Chardon Municipal Court Judge Terri Stupica on April 12.
The 18-year-old student charged with bringing a handgun to West Geauga High School with plans to shoot multiple students appeared before Chardon Municipal Court Judge Terri Stupica on April 12.
Stupica ordered Brandon Michael Morrissette be held without bail.
The Lyndhurst resident faces two felony charges and one misdemeanor stemming from the April 3 incident. Attorneys representing Morrissette, who earlier in the day was released from a mental health facility, pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor offense by reason of insanity.
Morrissette appeared in court via jail video. He attempted to speak but was quickly silenced by Stupica.
“You have very competent counsel,” Stupica said. “The court does not want to violate any of your rights.”
Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz, in his motion to have Morrissette held without bail, argued he poses a risk to the community.
“He took a substantial step toward the commission of aggravated murder in that he planned out his crime and brought a firearm to school,” Flaiz wrote. “But for school administration and law enforcement involvement, the defendant would have carried out his crime to its conclusion.”
Flaiz noted that Morrissette “has demonstrated the ability to gain access to firearms and ammunition and has the desire to commit murder.”
Court records show that when interviewed by Chester Township Police Chief Craig Young and Captain Jeff Sherwood, Morrissette admitted he planned to open fire on students in the school library and chose that location because of the large number of students who would be there at that time.
Found in his book bag was a 9mm handgun with three loaded magazines. He also had a lock blade-style knife secured to the exterior of his pants.
“No release conditions will reasonably assure the safety of that person or the community. His actions already demonstrate a willingness to violate the law, and no-contact orders, GPS monitors or house arrest could be easily violated by him,“ Flaiz wrote. “Law enforcement and court officials would only be notified after the fact if he were to leave his residence and return to the school or go to another populated area to carry out plans to conduct a mass shooting.”
Morrissette is charged with attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony; illegal possession of a deadly weapon in a school safety zone, a fifth-degree felony; and inducing panic, a first-degree misdemeanor.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. May 3.
