US media on Monday reported that a Taiwanese teen arrested last week for allegedly threatening to shoot up his Pennsylvania high school had built a 9mm handgun with parts bought online and had more than 1,600 rounds of ammunition for various guns, also bought online.
Sun An-tso (孫安佐), 18, had about 225 rounds of 12-gauge ammunition, 663 rounds of 9mm bullets, 295 rounds of AR-15 bullets and 425 rounds of AK-47 bullets, cbsphilly.com said, citing Upper Darby Police Department Superintendent Michael Chitwood.
Chitwood’s department last week said that Sun’s school-issued iPad showed searches on how to buy an AK-47 or an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.
Photo: CNA
Sun was arrested on Tuesday last week on charges of making terrorist threats after allegedly planning an attack on Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast Catholic High School on May 1.
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia told the CBS 3 television station that Sun has since been expelled, cbsphilly.com said.
“In my opinion, based on the totality of everything, we certainly feel he was going to shoot down the school,” Chitwood told a news conference on Monday night.
Sun is being held on a detainer lodged by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, meaning he cannot be freed on bail, which had been set at US$100,000, Chitwood said.
Sun’s parents, actor Sun Peng (孫鵬) and Taiwanese gezai opera (歌仔戲) actress Di Ying (狄鶯), have maintained that he was joking when he talked about shooting up his school.
The couple, who arrived in the US on Friday, visited their son at Delaware County Jail on Monday morning, accompanied by Robert Keller, one of two attorneys they retained to represent their son.
Keller later told reporters that the parents were very emotional and cried during what he described as a “heartwarming” meeting.
On Monday night, Keller and cocounsel Michael Kotik issued a statement: “This young man has had no prior contacts with the courts and has been considered an affable, precocious student with no discipline or antisocial tendencies... Our investigation reveals that there was no intention to terrorize or otherwise commit any criminal act. The family is concerned by the rising level of rhetoric that is being transmitted to the news media and hopes that the public will keep an open mind as all the facts and circumstances are brought forward.”
In other developments, Chitwood told reporters Sun An-tso’s host parent went to his bedroom and removed a 9mm Glock handgun and ammunition in a duffel bag before police arrived to conduct a search of her home.
“She immediately went to the bedroom” after she was contacted by the school that Sun An-tso had made the threat to another student on March 26, he said.
Police have declined to identify the host parent and there is no word if charges are pending against her.
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