Teen charged in plot on his old high school

Christopher Franko, who turned 18 on Tuesday, was ordered held without bail after his court-appointed attorney entered a not guilty plea to felony conspiracy. This is the second time in three years he has been accused of such a plot.

Franko and Dana Saltzman, 16, were arrested in early May on misdemeanor conspiracy, but a grand jury voted to upgrade the charges. The teens were plotting to attack Connetquot High School on Thursday (June 10) with shotguns and explosives, prosecutors said.
Their plan was to kill security guards outside of the school, then go inside and shoot as many students as possible, assistant district attorney Glenn Kurtzrock said.Once the police arrived at the school, the pair planned to fire at officers before ultimately killing themselves, the prosecutor added.|

Kurtzrock added that Franko had diagrams of the school and they intended to go to locations “where they knew a lot of students congregated for the purpose of killing as many students as possible.”

Their plot was thwarted in part when their attempts to purchase a shotgun at a local sporting goods store were rejected because neither teen was 18. Prosecutors say Franko intended to return to the store on Tuesday to make the purchase.

Kurtzrock said he could not explain a motive, other than Franko had apparently been teased by classmates — a slight he never forgot. “He is definitely a danger,” Kurtzrock said, adding that the case is “chillingly similar” to Franko’s arrest in 2007 as a juvenile on charges of plotting to attack the school.

That case was handled in the Family Court, Franko left Connetquot High School and graduated from a special-education program where he met Saltzman, who is still a student.She is expected to be arraigned on June 17 on the same felony conspiracy count.