A teen accused of planning a mass shooting to “kill all normies” at a Las Vegas Valley library or school could receive probation under a negotiation with prosecutors.
Eighteen-year-old Vincent Llamas must set up inpatient mental health treatment before he is sentenced, a judge ruled Wednesday.
District Judge Mary Kay Hothus agreed that Llamas had otherwise complied with conditions of the plea deal hammered out by Chief Deputy District Attorney Eckley Keach and defense attorney Frank Coumou.
“Keep doing what you’re doing for now,” Holthus told Llamas. “We’re trying to figure it out to keep you in line with the deal.”
The judge ordered Llamas back in court June 10.
Llamas, who has been out of custody on electronic monitoring for months, wore a white button-up shirt and black dress pants, and did not speak during the hearing.
In March, he pleaded guilty to threatening to cause bodily harm or death to a pupil or school employee, conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon, and battery constituting domestic violence.
Llamas faces about a year in jail if he does not complete treatment or fails to follow other conditions of the plea deal, including giving up all weapons, avoiding 3D printers, and staying away from the College of Southern Nevada High School.
According to court records, Llamas, who has depression and anxiety, has experienced suicidal ideations and emotional distress since he was in middle school.
Underwent risk assessment
Metropolitan Police Department officers arrested Llamas on Feb. 10, after relatives found a notebook in which he had written about wanting to attack a library during a kids’ club. He allegedly named eight targets and stated, “I’m doing it today, the massacre.”
Llamas had also purchased multiple weapons from Amazon, including a crossbow, axe, and hunting knife, according to authorities.
When he pleaded guilty, Llamas also agreed to undergo a risk assessment evaluating factors such as past violence, access to weapons, and untreated mental illness.
In the evaluation, Llamas also reported growing up without a father and, at 13, watching his mother die of cancer, for which he blamed himself. He said he had also been bullied, mocked and physically attacked by his peers, who had called him a “school shooter.”
‘Notable warning behaviors’
The assessment also considered diary entries, in which Llamas wrote that he would kill his family and shoot up the College of Southern Nevada High School, where he was enrolled.
After failing to buy a shotgun because he lacked valid identification, he planned to 3D-print a gun. In an entry from Dec. 22, Llamas wrote what he labeled a “final statement.”
“I know I’m a nobody and I don’t belong anywhere and I’m doomed to be a loser, that’s why I’m going to get revenge on all the normies who outcasted and mocked me my whole life and inspire other future shooters,” Llamas stated. “I don’t belong among any normie group; I belong among the top 10 deadliest school shooters.”
He documented threats and plans like these in a journal right up to his arrest, including efforts to build a bomb and hand-drawn maps of his school from memory.
Psychologists John Nicoletti and Jessica Garner recommended treatment to address Llamas’ “emotional dysregulation, grievance-based thinking, intrusive thought patterns and identity-related distress,” identified as primary drivers of his behavior.
“While Mr. Llamas did not complete an attack, he crossed several critical behavioral thresholds, placing him in a late-stage, pre-incident position prior to interruption,” Nicoletti and Garner said in the report. “In the process of moving through the pathway to violence, there are notable behaviors of concern, or warning behaviors.” The data indicate the presence of multiple highly concerning warning behaviors.”
Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.
