THERESA, N.Y. (AP) — Court records show that a U.S. Army soldier charged with killing his wife and a New York State Police trooper once plotted to shoot up his Michigan middle school while a teenager.
MLive.com reports Justin Walters was 15 and a ninth-grader at Macatawa Bay Middle School in Holland, Michigan, when he and a classmate were accused of compiling a "die or dead list" and planning to shoot people then kill themselves.
Tuesday, FOX17 spoke to Jennifer Rozela, one of Walters' former classmates named on his list.
“I was shocked," Rozela said. "To be honest with you, I was surprised he even knew my name to write it on a list, because we didn’t know each other personally."
“It definitely was a shocker, I remember taking a couple days off of school, my parents wanted to switch me to schools, but I had just moved there and made friends so I didn’t want to switch schools.”
Another classmate tipped off police to the 1999 plot. The Grand Rapids Press reports Walters pleaded guilty in family court to conspiracy to carry a dangerous weapon.
“I actually heard about the story a few days ago and didn’t think anything of it until I heard his name in your article today," said Rozela, "and it dawned on me who he was.”
Now 32, Walters was charged with murder Monday after police say he fatally shot his wife, Nichole Walters, and Trooper Joel Davis on Sunday at the Walters' home in Theresa.
