'Transgender' teen arrested for planning Valentine's Day school shooting, was inspired by Parkland killer: Docs

An Indiana teenager who police said "identifies as transgender" planned a school shooting and was inspired by the killer behind the Parkland massacre, according to investigators.

Trinity Shockley, 18, was arrested Wednesday.

'Parkland part two. Of course. I've been planning this for a YEAR.'

According to WXIN-TV, Shockley was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit murder (level 1 felony), one count of intimidation: threat to commit terrorism (level 5 felony), and one count of conspiracy to commit intimidation: threat to commit terrorism (level 5 felony).

According to the affidavit obtained by WISH-TV, a tipster notified the FBI’s Sandy Hook Promise's Say Something Anonymous Reporting System that the tipster's "friend" was planning a school shooting on Feb. 14. The informant said the individual had access to an AR-15 firearm and had just ordered a bulletproof vest.

The tipster noted that the person "admires" Nikolas Cruz, the convicted school shooter who murdered 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14, 2018.

The FBI investigated the suspect's accounts on the Discord instant messaging app and Snapchat social media app. Shockley’s username on Discord was "Crazy Nikolaz."

According to the affidavit, Shockley told someone on Snapchat: "Yeah. I'll be honest. I'm close to shooting mine up. I have an AR-15."

Shockley allegedly confirmed in a message that she was going to carry out the school shooting on Feb. 14 and that she was not going to commit suicide.

When asked if she had a "solid plan," Shockley reportedly replied: "Parkland part two. Of course. I've been planning this for a YEAR."

Around 7 p.m. Tuesday, the FBI tipped off the Mooresville Metropolitan Police Department about a possible shooting plot at Mooresville High School.

Just four hours before the FBI notified local police, Shockley allegedly told a high school counselor that she was infatuated with Nikolas Cruz and had written several letters to the convicted killer.

Shockley said she was "sexually attracted to Nikolas Cruz" and "wanted to have multiple children with Nikolas, and that she has already named the children," according to the affidavit.

Shockley reportedly also showed the counselor a heart locket necklace with a photo of Cruz inside.

The next day, officers with the Mooresville Metropolitan Police Department and the Morgan County SWAT Team executed a search warrant at the apartment of Shockley's father, where she lived, and found numerous items in her bedroom.

Mooresville Police Detective Matthew McDaniel said in court records that there were photos of Dylann Roof — sentenced to death for the 2015 shooting that took the lives of nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

The detective said there also was a collage on the wall with photos of Roof, Cruz, and Randy Stair, who murdered three co-workers at a Pennsylvania supermarket in 2017. Shockley allegedly had "pin-style buttons" with images of the three mass shooters on them.

McDaniel noted that there also was a poster for the 2003 movie "Zero Day," which is about two people who planned a school shooting.

"On a bookshelf, there was a framed photo of who I believed to be Dylan [sic] Roof," McDaniel stated, adding that Shockley's laptop used an image of Cruz as its wallpaper.

Police said they also discovered a photo album with images of infamous mass shooters.

The suspect reportedly had three notebooks decorated with swastikas along with the words: "kill," "bang," and "I hate you all DIE DIE DIE."

The affidavit — in which police said "she identifies as transgender" — notes that a passage in a notebook, written in December, reads:

My name is Dex I am eighteen years old. Born on October 26th 2006. I currently live with my father, my mother passed away. I am aslo [sic] a transgender male. I have a lot of homicidal thoughts. In all honesty, I want to be just like Elliot Rodger. He is my main influencer along with Nikolas Cruz. These thoughts never seem to stop, you may believe that I am some edgelord, but in reality I am just a loser. I am grateful for my chance to live but in reality, I am scared of living. Is it the government you ask? No. It is this sad reality of living with piece of s**s waste of life. I hope whoever reads this takes acknowledgment and maybe use it for your massacre. :) I will be back to write again, xoxo Dex.

Elliot Rodger is another mass murderer who killed six and injured 14 in a 2014 attack near the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Police said Shockley had been looking at body armor and bulletproof vests as recently as a week ago.

Another writing in the notebook allegedly praised Ethan Crumbley — the convicted Michigan school shooter who killed four in 2021.

An alleged writing from Jan. 22 stated: "I cannot stop thinking about Nikolas. It's impossible why must he be so far away?"

According to the affidavit, there were a "few" AR-15 magazines, a box of .40 caliber bullets, and a soft armor vest in the bedroom of Shockley's father.

According to the affidavit, Shockley told investigators that she previously talked to her school counselor because she had a "breakdown" caused by the stress of her mother recently dying from a drug overdose.

Shockley allegedly told detectives that she was "joking" about executing a school shooting. She purportedly told investigators that she "wanted to shoot the school up" but added that she "would never do that and does not have access to a gun."

Shockley allegedly admitted that she "wanted to recreate" what Cruz did but "would never do anything like that." Shockley reportedly said those thoughts were "out of rage."

Shockley reportedly informed police that she doesn't have a firearm, but her father has a gun in his car.

Police said Shockley had been looking at body armor and bulletproof vests as recently as a week ago.

Investigators spoke with Emily Roscoe, the social-emotional learning coordinator at Mooresville Consolidated Schools.

"Miss Roscoe told me that Trinity has sought mental health resources from the school all the way back to when she was a freshman," the affidavit read. "She had expressed suicidal ideation in the past but nothing was significant enough to cause intervention. Each time Trinity would try to receive mental health assistance, her father, Timothy Shockley, would deny her the access to the resources."

Two weeks after her 18th birthday, Shockley allegedly "signed herself up for mental health assistance."

Shockley is currently being detained at the Morgan County Jail without bond.

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