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Mother of wannabe Colorado school shooter talks about why she turned her child over to police

April 8, 2023 | | Print Article

The mother of a transgender teenager in Colorado, who allegedly planned to shoot up schools and churches slaughtering as many innocents as possible, claimed it was a “family decision” to call the police and turn William (now Lilly) Whitworth in.

(Video Credit: Straight Arrow News)

Melissa Whitworth-Mathes told the New York Post that her family had made the decision together to have Lilly “held accountable for her actions.”

The deeply disturbed 19-year-old admitted to police that he was researching weaponry and studying the layout of local schools as well as churches. The transgender wrote four pages of a manifesto praising serial killer Ed Kemper and Sandy Hook elementary school shooter Adam Lanza according to an affidavit obtained by the New York Post.

“We are also victims in the cases against Lilly, and are struggling to come to terms with what has happened and what we had to do to protect the public,” Whitworth-Mathes said in a statement on Friday.

The manifesto reportedly included a “list of firearms and how to 3D print them,” “[d]etailed lists of numerous individuals named to be killed,” and information “detailing the creation of improvised explosive devices,” according to the affidavit.

On Wednesday, the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office announced it had charged Whitworth with two counts of criminal attempt to commit murder and one count each of criminal mischief, menacing, and interference with staff, faculty, or students of educational institutions.

Whitworth has been assigned a public defender and has refused to comment on the charges or what was planned.

On March 31, the Elbert County Sheriff’s Office received a call just after 7:15 pm from Whitworth’s sister who said that the transgender teen had violently approached her, made comments referencing a school shooting, and had “threatened to shoot up a school,” the Colorado Springs Gazette reported.

Officers arrived at the family home and found holes punched in the walls outside Whitworth’s bedroom. The bedroom door “was off its hinges and lying beside the opening.”

According to the affidavit, Whitworth admitted to being inebriated and was “very drowsy and could not stay awake.”

“I asked Lilly if she said she was going to shoot up a school and she visibly shook her head up and down indicating yes,” an officer wrote.

Whitworth was asked why and then responded, “Why does anyone do it?”

The transgender told police that he last attended in-person schooling at Timberview Middle School in Colorado Springs, but was now being homeschooled.

“I asked Lilly what school she said she was going to shoot up and she placed her hand over her face,” the officer noted. “I stated Timberview was your last school and Lilly shook her head up and down indicating yes. I asked her how come that school and she stated, ‘No specific reason.’”

The police stated that Whitworth made suicidal statements while they spoke to the teen and claimed to not know if there were any weapons in the house. Officers did not find any firearms but did find bottles of weapon-cleaning liquid.

When an officer asked Whitworth “how much she had been planning the school shooting,” the transgender teen allegedly replied that he was “about a third of the way from doing it.”

Reports state that Whitworth had been actively planning the shooting for one to two months. Detailed floor plans had been drawn up in notebooks and on a whiteboard. Police said that Whitworth had also drawn “a clock to use as a detonation device” with further instructions.

“Lilly verified that Timberview Middle school was one of the ‘main targets’ currently and other targets were churches,” the affidavit noted. “Lilly was asked what kind of planning she had done, and she stated layout of the school, active firearm planning, and starting a manifesto.”

An officer described the manifesto as “four pages long and had schizophrenic rants on them.” When Whitworth was asked if he was schizophrenic, he reportedly responded, “I hope not.”

Officers asked the teen if he knew about school shootings and Whitworth replied, “Too much.”

“I asked what she meant by too much and Lilly stated there’s a page in my manifesto and there’s a bunch of mass killers,” the affidavit alleges.

The teen also blasted former President Trump as a “con man” in his manifesto, according to authorities.

During the search of the home, officers also found a copy of Karl Marx’s “The Communist Manifesto.”

Whitworth will appear in court on May 5 and is being held on a $75,000 bond.

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