CHESTERLAND, Ohio — The 18-year-old student accused of bringing a gun to West Geauga High School last month with plans to shoot students has been indicted on three felony charges, including attempted aggravated murder.
Court records show that 18-year-old Brandon Morrissette was indicted on the following charges on Tuesday:
- Attempted aggravated murder (first-degree felony)
- Illegal possession of a deadly weapon (fifth-degree felony)
- Inducing panic (fifth-degree felony)
Morrissette had previously pled not guilty by reason of insanity to a misdemeanor offense of inducing panic related to the incident. He has been held in the Geauga County Safety Center without bond since last month.
The charges against Morrissette come nearly one month to the day that West Geauga student Casey Orloski alerted a school resource officer of a 9mm bullet that was found in a men's restroom of the building. Following that discovery, the SRO and administrators began to review surveillance video to determine the origin of the shell.
After interviewing nearly 20 students, Morrissette was determined to be a suspect, with authorities claiming he had a plan to shoot multiple classmates. He was allegedly found with a Smith and Wesson 9mm handgun that had three fully loaded magazines inside, as well as a lock blade-style knife on the outside of his pants.
Court documents claim Morrissette admitted to Chester Township police that he was planning to go to the school library and open fire on the students there. He reportedly said he picked that location because that's where the greatest number of students would be at the time.
Following the incident, students at the high school were dismissed for the remainder of the day out of an abundance of caution, and all classes were canceled across the West Geauga district the following day. Officials have since unveiled new safety measures and moved to upgrade audio equipment in the high school.