A former Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University student was sentenced Monday to eight years in prison after threatening to commit a mass shooting at the school, according to prosecutors.
John Hagins, 22, was sentenced after pleading no contest to charges of attempted manslaughter (firearm), attempted terrorism and written threats to kill or do bodily injury, according to a news release from the State Attorney’s Office for the Seventh Judicial Circuit of Florida. He was also sentenced to 22 years probation.
Hagins, a flight student at the school, was arrested by the Daytona Beach Police Department on Dec. 9, 2021 — the last day of classes. He was booked into the Volusia County Jail where he remains in custody, jail records show.
His arrest came after a former roommate told campus security Hagins had talked about buying a gun that could fold and fit in his backpack so he could take it to ERAU to “shoot it up,” arrest records show.
On Dec. 8, 2021, Hagins showed his roommate the gun he bought off Facebook Marketplace and told him he had 800 rounds of ammunition and said “I finished my back to school shopping,” according to his arrest report. He also said he wanted to buy a silencer so he could shoot inside the school library. Hagins told the roommate he was loading his bag for the next day and sent him a Snapchat message of the bag filled with ammo and the gun, the report said.
Police arrested Hagins the following morning as he left his apartment with the gun in his backpack, arrest records show. He told police he was going to a shooting range. He admitted to detectives he had talked about “shooting up” the school and had made references to the Columbine High School mass shooting, his arrest report said.
According to his arrest report, Hagins told investigators the gun he bought was a “Kel-Tec” with about 400 9 mm rounds paid for using money from a pickup he recently sold as well as a refund he received from the university.