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Murder Plot Foiled?
Aired July 08, 2003 - 15:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Bashful, caring, confused. Different images of a teenager police in New Jersey say was plotting a massacre. Matthew Lovett and two other boys reportedly had a cache of guns and ammunition when they were arrested.
CNN's Deborah Feyerick with the latest now from Oaklyn, New Jersey.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Eighteen-year-old Matthew Lovett, the alleged mastermind, is one scared kid. That's according to his lawyer who says the teen cannot believe how much attention this has all generated. The lawyer says Lovett never intended to hurt anyone, that what happened in the early hours of Sunday morning was a fantasy, a cry for help.
But prosecutors are painting a very different picture. They say that this was a massacre that was avoided. They say that there was a letter that they found in the boy's home which paints all the teenagers as "warriors of freedom" and that they were first going to be targeting three classmates and then go on a random shooting spree.
All of this has taken Lovett's father very much by surprise. He says that, Yes, his son was a loner. He was scarred at the age of 9 by the death of his mother from pancreatic cancer. But he says that while his son would spend much time by himself in his room on his computers, he said he was not a violent kid.
RON LOVETT, FATHER OF MATTHEW LOVETT: The classmates may give their opinion of what their relationship was with him. Matthew was fine at home. He didn't like a lot of his peers just because of the teasing that he got used to, so he wasn't a person to easily go out and make friends with other people because of, I guess, what he had gone through with his brother when they were younger.
FEYERICK: The brother, James Lovett, was born with a cleft pallet and had had numerous surgeries in order to repair that.
Now as for the guns, all of them were registered to the father. They were kept in a gun locker. It appears the boys opened that locker while the father was away for the July 4 weekend. Those were the weapons that they were found carrying.
All three teenagers were charged have been charged with conspiracy to murder, car jacking and possessing those weapons. Deborah Feyerick, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 8, 2003 - 15:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Bashful, caring, confused. Different images of a teenager police in New Jersey say was plotting a massacre. Matthew Lovett and two other boys reportedly had a cache of guns and ammunition when they were arrested.
CNN's Deborah Feyerick with the latest now from Oaklyn, New Jersey.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Eighteen-year-old Matthew Lovett, the alleged mastermind, is one scared kid. That's according to his lawyer who says the teen cannot believe how much attention this has all generated. The lawyer says Lovett never intended to hurt anyone, that what happened in the early hours of Sunday morning was a fantasy, a cry for help.
But prosecutors are painting a very different picture. They say that this was a massacre that was avoided. They say that there was a letter that they found in the boy's home which paints all the teenagers as "warriors of freedom" and that they were first going to be targeting three classmates and then go on a random shooting spree.
All of this has taken Lovett's father very much by surprise. He says that, Yes, his son was a loner. He was scarred at the age of 9 by the death of his mother from pancreatic cancer. But he says that while his son would spend much time by himself in his room on his computers, he said he was not a violent kid.
RON LOVETT, FATHER OF MATTHEW LOVETT: The classmates may give their opinion of what their relationship was with him. Matthew was fine at home. He didn't like a lot of his peers just because of the teasing that he got used to, so he wasn't a person to easily go out and make friends with other people because of, I guess, what he had gone through with his brother when they were younger.
FEYERICK: The brother, James Lovett, was born with a cleft pallet and had had numerous surgeries in order to repair that.
Now as for the guns, all of them were registered to the father. They were kept in a gun locker. It appears the boys opened that locker while the father was away for the July 4 weekend. Those were the weapons that they were found carrying.
All three teenagers were charged have been charged with conspiracy to murder, car jacking and possessing those weapons. Deborah Feyerick, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
