College Student In North Carolina Arrested Over Guns, Studied Mass Shootings To Plan His Own

A college student in High Point, North Carolina, was arrested Tuesday after guns and ammunition were discovered in his room.

The High Point Police Department arrested 19-year-old freshman Paul A. Steber after it was discovered Steber was in possession of multiple guns and ammunition in his High Point University dorm room. He was arrested on two charges of having a gun on campus and one charge of making threats of mass violence.

The Boston-native had purchased the weapons within the week of his arrest with the reported intent to use them as part of a mass shooting he had been planning. However, investigators are still unsure if the weapons were purchased legally or not.

Steber was also reportedly studying videos of previous mass shootings to learn how to carry the act out.

“He told officers that he definitely had a plan, something that he had been thinking about since Christmas of last year,” Assistant District Attorney Lori Wickline said in court. “And he had been recently watching videos of the Charleston mass shooting down in South Carolina and other mass shootings so that he could learn what to do and what not to do.”

The alleged plan would have seen Steber kill at least his roommate and himself over a fraternity. Both had reportedly pledge to the same fraternity and Steber would have carried it out if he was denied but his roommate was made a member.

Steber has no criminal history and is being held on $2 million bond for the firearm charges.