The boy,who cannot be named for legal reasons,was and firing three rounds from the school’s car park,sending terrified teachers and students into lockdown.
The 15-year-old boy accused of shooting a gun in a school parking lot has been released on bail.
On Wednesday,he was granted supervised bail to a community services centre in Armadale,where he will be under a 24-hour curfew.
During the teenager’s application for bail,Perth Children’s Court heard the boy allegedly told friends in the weeks and days prior that he was going to “shoot up the school”.
“The friends did not believe him,” state prosecutor Brad Hollingsworth said.
“It no doubt sounded unbelievable,but he clearly did have that intent because he did.”
Hollingsworth said police allegedly found a concerning search history on the boy’s phone,including internet searches for firearms,shooting incidents in the US,what solitary confinement was like and education options in juvenile detention centres.
Just four days before he allegedly shot at the school,the boy spoke about US school shootings to a friend and about automatic weapons being banned in Australia,the court heard.
He also allegedly told a friend not to go to school on the day he intended to shoot at it and,on the day of the incident,checked in with two friends to find out what class they were in.
“[The accused] knew he was going to the school to hurt people but didn’t want to hurt his friends,” Hollingsworth said.
The court was also told that,after allegedly firing three rounds at the school,the boy called triple zero and,acting “cool,calm and collected”,told an operator he intended to kill people and himself but stopped because he didn’t want his siblings to be “the brother or sister of a killer”.
“He told the operator what he did,” Hollingsworth said.
“He said he had two rifles and 200 rounds of ammunition.
“He was asked if he was intending to injure anyone,he said ‘not anymore’. He was asked why he did what he did,he said ‘not sure’,he said he did intend to hurt people. He said he was going to kill people and himself.
“He said he was feeling angry and that was why he decided to do what he did.”
The court was told the boy used a key to unlock his father’s gun safe,gaining access to two “old-fashioned” rifles,a Savage .243 calibre rifle and a Savage .22 calibre rifle,that were both legally registered to his father.
The teenager allegedly took his father’s Nissan Pathfinder on the morning of May 24 and drove to the school,where he fired at one of the buildings from about 60 metres away.
One teacher told police she thought a car was backfiring,and one student fell over from fright because of the noise.
Another student told her teacher “I think that man has a gun,” while looking back and pointing to the car park.
Hollingsworth told the court the children and teachers at the school were still coming to terms with the events of last week and that releasing the boy back into the community would be detrimental to them.
He also said there was no clear explanation for the boy’s actions,stating that there was no evidence of bullying or other significant problems in his life,which meant he posed a risk to the community.
However,a psychiatrist who assessed the teenager on Wednesday ahead of his latest court appearance said he had some mental health issues that needed to be addressed.
Under his bail conditions,the boy is not allowed any access to the internet and not allowed within 100 metres of Atlantis Beach Baptist College. He is also not allowed to make contact with any of the students or staff at the school and is on a 24-hour curfew.
He will return to court in July.
Crisis support is available from on 13 11 14.
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