A 15-year-old boy who fired three shots at his school, sending it into lockdown, has been sentenced to three years detention but could be released sooner.

February 29, 2024

A vulnerable teenager who fired gunshots at a classroom, sparking fears of Australia’s first US-style school shooting, will spend at least 16 months in detention.

The 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, took two rifles to his school, the Atlantis Beach Baptist College in Two Rocks, about 70km north of Perth, on May 24 last year.

He fired three shots from his father’s .243 hunting rifle, sending students and teachers scrambling for cover as two bullets hit a classroom and another a grassed area near a playground.

No one was injured and the teen was arrested at the scene after calling triple zero and admitting what he had done, the Perth Children’s Court heard on Thursday.

He later pleaded guilty to eight charges, including two counts of unlawfully acting with intent to harm and endangering the lives of students and teachers.

Court President Hylton Quail said during sentencing that it was an extremely serious incident which could have ended in tragedy.

“The offending caused the blood of every student and parent, indeed I suspect every person in West Australia who heard about it, to run cold,” he said.

Judge Quail said the boy caused fear, anxiety and distress for the teachers and students.

“Parents send their children to school and expect them to be safe there. Students and teachers go to school expecting they will be safe,” he said.

“There are so many victims of your serious offending. Not only those teachers and students who were directly affected, that were on the grass or in the vicinity, in classrooms hiding but the whole Atlantis school community.

“All will remember this day for a very long time.”

Judge Quail sentenced the boy to three years detention, with at least 16 months to be served before he is eligible for release.

The court previously heard that during the call to triple zero, the boy told the operator he was angry and he had no future because he “flunked year 10” and wanted to injure “anyone”.

The incident plunged the school into lockdown amid reports a gunman dressed in black was aiming his weapon at students in the playground.

One student lay on the ground and attempted to use a backpack as cover, causing a teacher to fear he had been shot.

Others ran into classrooms and hid under tables and in cupboards and storerooms.

One teacher later told investigators: “I felt at any time any of us could be shot and killed. I have never felt so scared in my life”.

“I texted my fiance and told him what happened and I loved him.”

The boy, who has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and was suffering a depressive episode at the time, started planning the shooting months earlier after being bullied and targeted by gossip.

The court heard he made dozens of internet searches for information about school shootings, massacres and the age of criminal responsibility.

Four days before he pulled the trigger, the teen “talked a lot about mass shootings in the US” during a discussion with a friend.

He told another the night before the incident to stay home the following day because he was going to shoot the college. Neither took him seriously.

The next morning he unlocked his dad’s gun safe and removed two rifles before driving his father’s four-wheel-drive to the school.

Judge Quail previously said there was no legal record of a school shooting in Australia before the boy’s offending.

Atlantis Beach Baptist College is a co-educational school for boys and girls from kindergarten to year 10.