Aspiring School Shooter in Washington Was Busted After His Grandma Found His Journal

What happened?

A teenager was arrested in Washington state on suspicion of attempted murder after his grandmother called 911 and alerted authorities about his alleged plan to shoot up a school.

Pat and Stu talked about this disturbing story on today’s show and wondered if encouraging “see something, say something” is an option to help prevent more shootings.

Yikes. How did Grandma find out?

Joshua Alexander O’Connor, 18, was arrested Tuesday when his grandmother showed police a journal allegedly detailing his scheme to shoot as many people as possible at a nearby school and to use DIY explosives to increase the death count.

What else do we know?

After serving a search warrant, detectives took the high school student’s journal, a rifle hidden inside a guitar case and inert grenades as evidence.

“I need to make this count,” O’Connor reportedly wrote in the journal, which detailed ways to make homemade explosives and an armed robbery that O’Connor is accused of participating in so he could fund his plot.

O’Connor allegedly wrote that he had decided which local school to target through a coin toss. He settled on ACES High School, where he was a student.

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

STU: Thing number one, demand your city use data-driven strategies to reduce violence. More than 25 percent of gun homicides happened in neighborhoods that contained just 1.5 percent of the country's total population. The Live Free campaign and a community justice reform coalition are working to organize communities most intensely impacted by violence. These activists believe that making neighborhoods safer, requires addressing gun violence, police shootings, and criminal justice reform at the same time, not as competing issues. So, again, that doesn't necessarily mean gun control. But maybe there's some element to that.

And they -- the guardian says you can do that. Strengthen your state's approach to guns and domestic violence. Again, this is something that I think a lot of people agree with even if you have Second Amendment beliefs. Tougher state and local gun laws.

PAT: What does that mean? If you're convicted of domestic violence, you can't have a gun.

STU: You can't have a gun. All right. Support the effort to pass extreme risk protection orders. Advocates have launched a joint effort this year, over 20 states, to pass extreme risk protection order laws, which give family members and law enforcement officials a way to petition a court to temporarily bar at-risk people from possessing firearms.

California has a version of this.

PAT: Here's the problem with that though: You've got an at-risk person at your house. That means you can't have any guns in your house, right? That doesn't just take it away from the person. It would also take away the parents or the siblings, or whoever has a legally purchased gun.

STU: Yeah. And these are not things that -- some of this stuff you couldn't get passed because they would restrict people's rights to bear arms. And, you know, that's the thing we never really talk about. Bottom line, most of the stuff that the left is proposing, winds up getting overturned in the Supreme Court anyway. So we fear these things because they're going to try to take these guns away and they're going to try to do all these things. They can pass all the stuff they want. Overwhelming possibility that it gets overturned by the Supreme Court anyway.

PAT: Right now. Yeah. As long as the Supreme Court is in its current configuration. That could change if a liberal ever packs the court.

STU: Of course. Learn how to identify when someone is at risk.

Sandy Hook Promise, an advocacy group founded by family members of the Sandy Hook shooting has trained more than 2 million students and adults to know their signs.

That sort of stuff, of course, you can do that. And have gun owners lead the way in preventing gun suicides. Again, this is the smart point. As we point out, 65 percent of gun deaths come from suicide. Not murder.

So can you do those? I don't know. That might reduce it a little bit. I think to me, we talked about the whole media situation. I noticed another person. I think it was on CNN yesterday, not giving the name of the shooter. There was a shooter in -- I don't have it in front of me.

I wish I had the story. I'll give you the baseline here. Grandma goes into kid's room, opens up his journal, because she's feeling kind of weird about what's going on. He just seems a little bit off. Opens up his journal, just starts reading. Line by line plan on how he's going to murder, do a school shooting in a specific school which he flipped a school to figure out which school it was going to be. Detailed plans. And his description about how he wanted to set a record and outdo all the other school shootings. He had read a lot about other school shootings.

PAT: Oh, my gosh.

STU: And wanted to make sure he did better than that. He learned from their mistakes. Again, this is media obsession with this stuff. He comes to it, he says, I want to beat these guys. Luckily, the grandma actually looked at the journal and then looked in his guitar case, which included the weapon that he was going to use in the particular school shooting. He had planned -- he had all sorts of details about it.

PAT: Wow.

STU: And think about this, what a moment it must be if you're this -- your grandson is doing this, you open it up, you have this knowledge. What do you do? Luckily, she called, like she would have, authorities. They arrested the kid.

And not only did she prevent dozens of deaths possibly at this school, also, she prevented most likely her grandson's death, who either would have been shot or he would have shot himself.

PAT: It's interesting. They did arrest him?

STU: They did.

PAT: On what charge? Terrorist threats or something?

STU: I don't have the story in front of me. The defense was raising the point I think you're raising, which is, he didn't actually shoot anybody yet. He was just musing in a journal.

PAT: Right.

STU: Now, of course, he had grenades and he had a gun.

PAT: Okay. So she's got -- wow.

STU: He was pretty well-armed to do this.

PAT: Wow.

STU: Although, there wasn't necessarily a law that prevented him from having the gun. Right? He could have had the gun.

PAT: Where does a teenage kid get grenades?

STU: That's a good question. That may have been explained --

PAT: In the story.

STU: I'm sure in the investigation, they will come to that conclusion.

But the point being that there are -- if you can uncover these things beforehand, and we have caught a lot of them. Thank God. I mean, being more aware is a big part of that. And I think not encouraging these people to be these famous celebrities in their communities, I think that helps too.

PAT: Definitely.

STU: And that's one that, again, the media can do without passing any legislation. They can't blame Congress for it. They can't blame anybody for it, except themselves.

PAT: Don't make them famous.

STU: Don't make them famous. Take every step that you can. What would that do? Would it reverse one out of every ten? Maybe.

PAT: Maybe.

STU: And then, you know what, really worth doing. Really worth doing.

The West is dying—Will we let enemies write our ending?

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The blood of martyrs, prophets, poets, and soldiers built our civilization. Their sacrifice demands courage in the present to preserve it.

Lamentations asks, “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?”

That question has been weighing on me heavily. Not just as a broadcaster, but as a citizen, a father, a husband, a believer. It is a question that every person who cares about this nation, this culture, and this civilization must confront: Is all of this worth saving?

We have squandered this inheritance. We forgot who we were — and our enemies are eager to write our ending.

Western civilization — a project born in Judea, refined in Athens, tested in Rome, reawakened in Wittenberg, and baptized again on the shores of Plymouth Rock — is a gift. We didn’t earn it. We didn’t purchase it. We were handed it. And now, we must ask ourselves: Do we even want it?

Across Europe, streets are restless. Not merely with protests, but with ancient, festering hatred — the kind that once marched under swastikas and fueled ovens. Today, it marches under banners of peace while chanting calls for genocide. Violence and division crack societies open. Here in America, it’s left against right, flesh against spirit, neighbor against neighbor.

Truth struggles to find a home. Even the church is slumbering — or worse, collaborating.

Our society tells us that everything must be reset: tradition, marriage, gender, faith, even love. The only sin left is believing in absolute truth. Screens replace Scripture. Entertainment replaces education. Pleasure replaces purpose. Our children are confused, medicated, addicted, fatherless, suicidal. Universities mock virtue. Congress is indifferent. Media programs rather than informs. Schools recondition rather than educate.

Is this worth saving? If not, we should stop fighting and throw up our hands. But if it is, then we must act — and we must act now.

The West: An idea worth saving

What is the West? It’s not a location, race, flag, or a particular constitution. The West is an idea — an idea that man is made in the image of God, that liberty comes from responsibility, not government; that truth exists; that evil exists; and that courage is required every day. The West teaches that education, reason, and revelation walk hand in hand. Beauty matters. Kindness matters. Empathy matters. Sacrifice is holy. Justice is blind. Mercy is near.

We have squandered this inheritance. We forgot who we were — and our enemies are eager to write our ending.

If not now, when? If not us, who? If this is worth saving, we must know why. Western civilization is worth dying for, worth living for, worth defending. It was built on the blood of martyrs, prophets, poets, pilgrims, moms, dads, and soldiers. They did not die for markets, pronouns, surveillance, or currency. They died for something higher, something bigger.

MATTHIEU RONDEL/AFP via Getty Images | Getty Images

Yet hope remains. Resurrection is real — not only in the tomb outside Jerusalem, but in the bones of any individual or group that returns to truth, honor, and God. It is never too late to return to family, community, accountability, and responsibility.

Pick up your torch

We were chosen for this time. We were made for a moment like this. The events unfolding in Europe and South Korea, the unrest and moral collapse, will all come down to us. Somewhere inside, we know we were called to carry this fire.

We are not called to win. We are called to stand. To hold the torch. To ask ourselves, every day: Is it worth standing? Is it worth saving?

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Pick up your torch. If you choose to carry it, buckle up. The work is only beginning.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Stop coasting: How self-education can save America’s future

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Coasting through life is no longer an option. Charlie Kirk’s pursuit of knowledge challenges all of us to learn, act, and grow every day.

Last year, my wife and I made a commitment: to stop coasting, to learn something new every day, and to grow — not just spiritually, but intellectually. Charlie Kirk’s tragic death crystallized that resolve. It forced a hard look in the mirror, revealing how much I had coasted in both my spiritual and educational life. Coasting implies going downhill. You can’t coast uphill.

Last night, my wife and I re-engaged. We enrolled in Hillsdale College’s free online courses, inspired by the fact that Charlie had done the same. He had quietly completed around 30 courses before I even knew, mastering the classics, civics, and the foundations of liberty. Watching his relentless pursuit of knowledge reminded me that growth never stops, no matter your age.

The path forward must be reclaiming education, agency, and the power to shape our minds and futures.

This lesson is particularly urgent for two groups: young adults stepping into the world and those who may have settled into complacency. Learning is life. Stop learning, and you start dying. To young adults, especially, the college promise has become a trap. Twelve years of K-12 education now leave graduates unprepared for life. Only 35% of seniors are proficient in reading, and just 22% in math. They are asked to bet $100,000 or more for four years of college that will often leave them underemployed and deeply indebted.

Degrees in many “new” fields now carry negative returns. Parents who have already sacrificed for public education find themselves on the hook again, paying for a system that often fails to deliver.

This is one of the reasons why Charlie often described college as a “scam.” Debt accumulates, wages are not what students were promised, doors remain closed, and many are tempted to throw more time and money after a system that won’t yield results. Graduate school, in many cases, compounds the problem. The education system has become a factory of despair, teaching cynicism rather than knowledge and virtue.

Reclaiming educational agency

Yet the solution is not radical revolt against education — it is empowerment to reclaim agency over one’s education. Independent learning, self-guided study, and disciplined curiosity are the modern “Napster moment.” Just as Napster broke the old record industry by digitizing music, the internet has placed knowledge directly in the hands of the individual. Artists like Taylor Swift now thrive outside traditional gatekeepers. Likewise, students and lifelong learners can reclaim intellectual freedom outside of the ivory towers.

Each individual possesses the ability to think, create, and act. This is the power God grants to every human being. Knowledge, faith, and personal responsibility are inseparable. Learning is not a commodity to buy with tuition; it is a birthright to claim with effort.

David Butow / Contributor | Getty Images

Charlie Kirk’s life reminds us that self-education is an act of defiance and empowerment. In his pursuit of knowledge, in his engagement with civics and philosophy, he exemplified the principle that liberty depends on informed, capable citizens. We honor him best by taking up that mantle — by learning relentlessly, thinking critically, and refusing to surrender our minds to a system that profits from ignorance.

The path forward must be reclaiming education, agency, and the power to shape our minds and futures. Every day, seek to grow, create, and act. Charlie showed the way. It is now our responsibility to follow.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck joins TPUSA tour to honor Charlie Kirk

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If they thought the murder of Charlie Kirk would scare us into silence, they were wrong!

If anything, Turning Point will hit the road louder than ever. On Monday, September 22, less than two weeks after the assassination, Charlie's friends united under the Turning Point USA banner to carry his torch and honor his legacy by doing what he did best: bringing honest and truthful debate to Universities across the nation.

Naturally, Glenn has rallied to the cause and has accepted an invitation to join the TPUSA tour at the University of North Dakota on October 9th.

Want to join Glenn at the University of North Dakota to honor Charlie Kirk and keep his mission alive? Click HERE to sign up or find more information.

Glenn's daughter honors Charlie Kirk with emotional tribute song

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On September 17th, Glenn commemorated his late friend Charlie Kirk by hosting The Charlie Kirk Show Podcast, where he celebrated and remembered the life of a remarkable young man.

During the broadcast, Glenn shared an emotional new song performed by his daughter, Cheyenne, who was standing only feet away from Charlie when he was assassinated. The song, titled "We Are One," has been dedicated to Charlie Kirk as a tribute and was written and co-performed by David Osmond, son of Alan Osmond, founding member of The Osmonds.

Glenn first asked David Osmond to write "We Are One" in 2018, as he predicted that dark days were on the horizon, but he never imagined that it would be sung by his daughter in honor of Charlie Kirk. The Lord works in mysterious ways; could there have been a more fitting song to honor such a brave man?

"We Are One" is available for download or listening on Spotify HERE