Helena man sentenced for allegedly planning 'Columbine-style attack' with pipe bombs • Daily Montanan

A Helena man who admitted to possessing pipe bombs and allegedly had a desire to commit a “Columbine-style attack” on a Helena high school was sentenced Monday to more than seven years in prison, including three years of parole. monitored.

An informant told the Helena Police Department in May 2022 that Logan Sea Pallister, 25, discussed wanting to carry out a Columbine-style attack at the high school and planned to use pipe bombs in addition to guns , according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Montana.

The Columbine High School massacre was a 1999 school shooting in Columbine, Colorado, where 15 people died, including the two gunmen.

Pallister pleaded guilty in January to possession of an unregistered destructive device and possession of an unregistered silencer. He was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Montana, Helena.

Court documents say Pallister has an “unnatural and unhealthy fascination with violence,” particularly school shooters. Pallister regularly harassed co-workers at a local fast food restaurant and discussed a “lifelong fantasy of committing a Columbine-style mass shooting at a high school,” the sentencing memo reads.

Pallister purchased clothing and weapons to match those worn by the Columbine attackers, purchasing a black trench coat and the same type of duffel bag used by the shooters. He explained how he would plant bombs around the school to “maximize the effect of the attack” and claimed to stockpile weapons.

In May 2022, Pallister brought a co-worker into his car outside the fast food restaurant to “show her something” and then showed her a homemade pipe bomb that had been hidden in a case in the floor of the car. She later told police he threatened to kill her if she told anyone what she saw, which Pallister denies, but she told police shortly afterward, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Officers arrested Pallister on May 31, 2022, around 4 a.m., as he walked to his car from where he lived, wearing a black trench coat and carrying a bag.

Officers found eight loaded and concealed firearms on him, including semi-automatic pistols and AR-style rifles equipped with high-capacity magazines., the press release states.

After searching his car, law enforcement found nine additional firearms, cartridges, loaded magazines, firearm accessories, an oil filter that appeared to have been modified to function as a homemade silencer and a green ammunition box containing four suspected pipe bombs. according to prosecutors. An expert from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives later confirmed that the powder in the suspected pipe bombs was explosive.

At his home, officers found additional firearms and ammunition, firearm components, warrant documents, receipts and online orders related to chemicals, suspected chemical precursors for manufacturing explosives and a suspected homemade explosive mixture known as flash powder, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

The government said the suppressive and destructive devices were not registered and their use violated federal gun laws.

The government said in its sentencing memo that it was “difficult to conclude that Pallister's threats were 'harmless'.”

“What sets him apart is his demonstrated ability to follow through on his threat,” the memo said. “More than just chatter, Pallister meticulously set about stockpiling an arsenal to carry out his plan: dozens of semi-automatic firearms and components designed to produce maximum lethality, body armor , pipe bombs, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and clothing that mirrored the clothing worn by the Columbine attackers – all the materials necessary to realize the object of his deranged fantasy.

The government said it could not say with certainty that Pallister was about to carry out an attack on the morning of his arrest, with the delivery of some pipe bomb parts days after his arrest possibly indicating that he was always prepared. But it was clear that he was working meticulously to take action.

“In short, Pallister had clearly set in motion a chain of events that likely would have resulted in tragedy,” the government said.