High school massacre foiled: Three arrested over chilling plot to shoot up Atlanta school

Three people face allegations of conspiring to commit murder over a purported plan for a shooting at a high school in metro Atlanta.

Two of the three are juveniles, and the arrests were announced by authorities on Tuesday.

The FBI found threatening posts online from one of the trio, according to the Canton Police Department, which outlined the details in a news release.

Working with local police, the agency made arrests on Oct. 20 and 23, taking two people into custody in Georgia and the third in California.

Weapons and ammunition were found.

Suspect Shane Taylor shown here in his mugshot (Cherokee County Sheriff's Office)

One suspect is 21 and was named as Michael Terry, a resident of Chatsworth, California.

Another suspect, Shane Taylor, is 17, from Metter, Georgia, and has been booked into Cherokee County Jail.

Police did not give the third suspect's age beyond saying he is a juvenile.

The third suspect is also accused of disrupting or interfering with public school operations.

Terry is expected to be extradited from California.

Cherokee County School Superintendent Dr. Mary Elizabeth Davis said the juvenile is a former student at Cherokee High School, WSB-TV reported.

Three people, including two juveniles, have been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to carry out a shooting at a high school in metro Atlanta, authorities said Tuesday (Cherokee School District)

"We get threats, we take them seriously, and act quickly," Canton Police Officer Pacer Cordry told the media.

"We believe that we have all three in custody, and there's no additional ongoing potential threats to the Cherokee High School or to any school in Cherokee County," Cordry added.

The arrests have shocked the community.

"What in the world? Oh my goodness. I just don't know what to say. I am upset, very upset. I just don't understand, what in the world is going on," Carol Johnson, whose granddaughter attends the school, told Fox Atlanta.

Another woman, Haley King, who has a relative who attends the school, told the station, "That was alarming, obviously. [Her niece] is terrified. That's always been like a back thought in her head, but she's really scared. Thankful for the police, FBI, everybody involved that made this not a tragedy."

Canton police said the investigation is active.

The department did not provide details about what exactly the three are accused of planning to do or how close they were to doing it.

The announcement comes less than two weeks after a 16-year-old boy killed three children and a teacher in a shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in central Oregon.

The Canton Police Department and the Cherokee County School District did not immediately respond to requests for comment.