Italian Police Arrest 17-Year-Old Planning Columbine-Style School Massacre

Italian authorities arrested a 17-year-old boy from Pescara, residing in Perugia, on Monday after an investigation revealed he had been planning a school massacre modeled on the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, which he intended to end with his own suicide. The arrest was carried out overnight by the Carabinieri ROS as part of an operation named "Hate." The juvenile investigating judge of the court of L'Aquila issued the precautionary custody order at the request of the Juvenile Prosecutor's Office of L'Aquila. The minor now faces charges of propaganda and incitement to commit crimes based on racial, ethnic, and religious discrimination, as well as possession of material for terrorist purposes. The boy was placed in a juvenile detention facility following the order.

Seized materials reveal weapons manuals and bomb-making guides Investigators found that the suspect had obtained and distributed, through Telegram channels, manuals containing detailed instructions for the manufacture of firearms, including through 3D printing. Among the seized materials were documents with technical indications on dangerous chemical and bacteriological substances, as well as handbooks dedicated to the sabotage of essential public services. The minor had also sought instructions for preparing TATP, an explosive already used in the Brussels and Paris massacres. The investigation established that the boy was actively working on the manufacture of weapons and chemical devices, with investigators describing the terrorist intent as evident. The breadth of the seized material — spanning firearms production, explosive synthesis, chemical agents, and infrastructure sabotage — indicated a systematic and deliberate preparation for a large-scale attack.

Operation Hate — key events: — ; — ; —

Werwolf Division Telegram group glorified Tarrant and Breivik as saints The investigation documented contacts between the minor and the leader of a Telegram group called "Werwolf Division," which promoted content centered on the supposed superiority of the Aryan race and the constant glorification of mass shooters. The group elevated figures such as Brenton Tarrant, the perpetrator of the Christchurch mosque attacks of March 15, 2019, and Anders Behring Breivik, the perpetrator of the Oslo and Utøya attacks in 2011, to the status of "saints" in order to encourage emulation. Investigators described the network as a "transnational virtual ecosystem, made up of social groups and channels of neo-Nazi, accelerationist and supremacist origin," particularly oriented toward the inciting power of shared ideological material and the fascination with violence and extremism. As part of the same operation, seven other minors were searched in the provinces of Teramo, Perugia, Pescara, Bologna, and Arezzo, all under investigation for propaganda and incitement to commit crimes on grounds of racial, ethnic, national, or religious discrimination. The eight individuals were collectively treated as part of this broader international network.

The current investigation grew out of a prior counterterrorism operation called "Imperium," concluded in July 2025 by the Brescia Carabinieri anti-crime section and coordinated by the District Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate of Brescia. During that earlier operation, a 21-year-old from Brescia was served with a precautionary custody order on charges of propaganda and incitement to commit crimes for reasons of racial, ethnic, and religious discrimination, and 26 searches were carried out across Italy. Monitoring of Telegram and TikTok profiles identified 29 additional members of the network, many aged between 18 and 25, with five being minors at the time. The minor arrested on Monday had already been searched during the Imperium operation, which first flagged his involvement with radical neo-Nazi, supremacist, xenophobic, and antisemitic virtual groups.

Italy's youth violence concerns deepen after Bergamo school stabbing The arrest comes amid broader concern in Italy about violence among young people. The previous week, a 13-year-old boy stabbed a 57-year-old French teacher in the neck and abdomen at a school in Trescore Balneario, in the province of Bergamo, seriously injuring her. The attacker was reportedly wearing a T-shirt bearing the V for Vendetta symbol and allegedly filmed and livestreamed the attack on social media. The two incidents, while distinct in nature and motivation, have intensified public and political debate in Italy about radicalization and violence among minors. The "Hate" operation, spanning Abruzzo, Emilia-Romagna, Umbria, and Tuscany, reflects the growing scope of domestic counterterrorism efforts targeting online extremist networks that recruit and radicalize young people across national borders.