Braeden Phillips, 20, of Milroy, Kishacoquillas Valley, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, United States has been arrested. He is a former resident of State College, Centre County, Pennsylvania.
Journalist Gretchen Morgenson, 69, actor Kelly Perine, 56, and former professional football player Larry Johnson, 45, were born in State College. Milroy is around 23 miles away from State College, which is home to Centre Learning Community Charter School, Nittany Valley Charter School, the Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania and State College Area High School.
Braeden Phillips
On April 11, 2025, Phillips was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder and carrying a handgun without a license. He was seen with a black, Glock-style pistol on multiple occasions in Pennsylvania where residents must be at least 21 years old to possess handguns.
Deemed an extreme danger to the community, Phillips was denied bail and booked into the Centre Country Prison in Bellefonte, Centre County, Pennsylvania. On April 16, 2025, he will attend his preliminary hearing.
Phillips is accused of planning to place bombs inside the bathrooms of the State College Area High School. He allegedly conspired with a juvenile to commit murders by planning a coordinated school shooting at the school.
Authorities did not release details about the juvenile. The two suspects allegedly compiled a hit list of people to target.
According to one of the residents of a youth community center in State College, which is under the umbrella of the Centre Youth Service Bureau, Phillips had discussed the planned attack with them. After learning of the threat, staff at the center called police.
Witnesses told police that Phillips first intended to carry out the attack on April 20, 2025. Because the date fell on a Sunday, he allegedly moved it to 8:40 a.m. on April 21, 2025, a high traffic time for State College Area High School students and staff.
Columbine High School
State College is around 1,567 miles away from Columbine, Colorado, USA. In 1973, Columbine High School opened with Dr. Gerald Alfred Difford as the first principal.
On April 20, 1999, Columbine High School senior students Eric David Harris and Dylan Bennet opened fire inside the school, killing 13 students and one teacher and wounding 23 others including Anne Marie Hochhalter, then 17. After the shooting, both gunmen died by suicide by gunshot wound in the library of the school.
Klebold was born in Lakewood, Colorado. On September 11, 1998, he turned 17.
Harris was born in Wichita, Kansas, USA. He turned 18 on April 9, 1999.
Born in Ohio, USA, Difford battled with multiple myeloma for 11 years. He turned 69 on April 4, 2008 and died on August 18, 2008.
Hochhalter was born in Bismarck, North Dakota, USA. After being shot in the chest and in her back, she was paralyzed from the waist down.
On December 19, 2024, Hochhalter turned 43. On February 16, 2025, she died in Westminster, Colorado of sepsis complicated by gunshot wounds.
CONAN Daily 