This is simultaneously one of the scariest and also most relieving stories I've come across. A San Antonio mother has been accused of "facilitating" her son's efforts to "be famous" and carry out threats on his middle school. Her son is now in police custody.
Unsurprisingly, the mother, 33-year-old Ashley Pardo, looks like this:
An affidavit states 33-year-old Ashley Pardo was arrested Monday following an investigation into threats made by her son, a student at Rhodes Middle School on the city's inner west side. Authorities said he had 'a fascination with past mass shooters,' and was later allegedly found to have ammunition, a makeshift explosive and a note referencing mass shooting incidents.
That note read, "For Brenton Tarrant," who was the perp in the New Zealand mosque shootings in 2019.
Police had initially made contact with this kid back in January after he'd been found drawing maps of his middle school, including one labeled "suicide route." He'd also been found researching the New Zealand mosque shootings on a school computer in April. He was suspended as a result, temporarily assigned to another school, and then was sent back to Rhodes Middle School last week.
Fortunately, his grandmother happened to be in earshot on Monday before school when he said he was "going to become famous." Grandma found loaded magazines in her home and called police, who were able to detain the boy before he got to school.
What's more, it looks like his mom was buying his tactical gear for him.
The affidavit says he admitted he got the ammunition from his mother, who had been taking him to a surplus store and bought him [tactical] gear in exchange for babysitting his younger siblings.
Documents describe the items purchased for the boy by his mother including magazines, tactical black vest capable of concealing ballistic plates, tactical black helmet and various army clothing ...
The arrest warrant said Pardo was made aware of the threats made by her son and had been in contact with police, CPS and school personnel. But, detectives said in the affidavit, she 'expressed to the school her support' of her son's 'violent expressions and drawings,' and wasn't concerned by them.
She faces a charge of aiding in commission of terrorism after officials said she helped her son gather items found to have been used in other acts of mass violence. She was released from jail on a $75,000 bond.
No mention is made as to whether or not the kid was armed when police arrested him on Monday, but at this point I don't think it matters. This kid seems to have been planning an attack on his school, and his grandmother might have just saved countless lives with one call to the police.
I'll leave some local news coverage here:
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