Ohio student who shot himself had planned a Columbine-like school shooting

An Ohio middle school student who killed himself in a school bathroom had planned to imitate the 1999 Columbine High School shooting that left 15 dead, police said Thursday. 

Keith Simons, 13, fatally shot himself in the bathroom of Jackson Memorial Middle School after he changed his mind about committing a school shooting. 

Simons had a deep “admiration” for Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, according to records found on his phone. 

{mosads}In the days leading up to the shooting, Simons wrote about how he wanted to leave “a lasting impression on the world” just like previous mass shooters and thought that he would die doing it. 

“I’ll look in to those scared little britches [sic] eyes before I kill them there’s now I’ll have followers because I’m so awesome,” Simons wrote. “I know someone will follow me just like I followed Eric Harris and Dylan Klebolt’s [sic] me and them want close to the same thing, It’s going to be fun……They say school shootings are horrible but they don’t think like us, like me Eric and Dylan.” 

Surveillance footage shows Simons leaving his home around 7 a.m. on Feb. 21 with a “noticeable limp” because of the .22 caliber rifle hidden in his clothing, the Jackson Township Police Department said in a statement. 

Simons went right into the bathroom when he got to school. He had walked out with the long gun in his hands but suddenly turned around and walked back in. 

Teachers later found him on the floor with a self-inflicted wound, causing the whole school district to go on lockdown. 

Police do not know why Simons changed his mind. They are investigating his access to a weapon. 

The planned shooting came one week after a former student shot and killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.