Norwalk resident charged after admitting to contemplating school shooting

NORWALK, Iowa — A 19-year-old from Norwalk was arrested on Monday for allegedly making threats to shoot up a local school.

On Tuesday, September 10 the Norwalk Police Department received information regarding a potential school shooting threat to the Norwalk Community School District, specifically to Oviatt Elementary School. According to police, an investigation into the threat revealed that 19-year-old Margaret Anderson, also known as Maxwell, made threats of harming students at the school.

According to court documents, Anderson said that “she had thoughts that she wanted to take a gun to Oviatt Elementary School in Norwalk at 11:00 AM to the cafeteria and shoot children.” The police department said after it learned of these statements Anderson was removed from the public.

During an interview with investigators, Anderson told law enforcement that they’d been having intrusive thoughts of carrying out a shooting at a school or other places, a criminal complaint states. Anderson also began researching how to carry out the shooting, including researching recent school shootings like the one at a Georgia school and how to acquire a gun, the complaint states.

On Monday Anderson was booked into the Warren County Jail and charged with Threat of Terrorism. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for October 1.

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