CARY, N.C. — Search warrants released Tuesday reveal new details on the March 22 incident in which a teenager opened fire with a BB gun at a Cary Barnes & Noble.
Jonathan Kyle Courtney, 18, had been planning to commit the act for two days. The warrant said Courtney "stated that he had read multiple articles on the internet about mass shooting across the world."
Courtney said he came up with the idea on March 19, began planning it on March 20, and executed the BB gun attack on March 22, according to the warrant.
The warrant also said that, on the night of the shooting, Courtney had two BB guns and an "improvised explosive device, which was later determined to be non-functional."
The shooting happened around 7:10 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble located at 760 SE Maynard Rd. in Cary. Two people were hit by the pellets and were wounded. The call was put out as an "active shooter" despite the use of a pellet gun by the suspect, police said. A male and female were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, officials said.
"There were some shook up people for sure," said Capt. John Szymeczek with the Cary Police Department. "Although they were BB guns, they are very realistic looking replicas. It was a traumatic event for those folks."
Courtney was taken into custody and has been charged with two counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon and one count of discharging a barreled weapon into an occupied property. If convicted of these charges, he could receive up to 20 years in prison, police said.
He is currently being held at the Wake County Public Safety Center in Raleigh.