Student from Vermont arrested in Minnesota for allegedly planning to attack school

By PATRICK CROWLEY

VTDigger

Published: 04-12-2023 11:33 PM

A 20-year-old student from Middlesex, Vt., is facing charges related to an alleged school threat at his college in Minnesota.

Prosecutors allege that Waylon Kurts was planning to carry out a “mass casualty event” at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn.

Kurts was charged Monday in Rice County District Court in Minnesota with conspiracy to commit assault with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to commit threats of violence, terroristic threats and conspiracy to commit theft, court documents show.

Assistant Rice County Attorney Katheryn Burbank wrote in court documents filed Tuesday that Kurts’ mother was planning to meet the $100,000 bail conditions and bring Kurts, who is being held at the Rice County Jail, back to Vermont. Burbank asked the judge to set conditions of release that would require all firearms in Kurts’ Middlesex home to be surrendered to a Vermont law enforcement agency. It was not clear Tuesday afternoon whether the judge had yet considered that request.

Jesse Cordova, a police sergeant in Northfield, Minn., wrote in an affidavit that Kurts’ family told police he owned firearms that were stored in Vermont, including an assault rifle.

Kurts’ home address in Middlesex is the same address for Woden Teachout, daughter of Vermont judge Mary Miles Teachout and the sister of Zephyr Teachout, a former Vermonter who ran for New York attorney general in 2016.

Nobody answered the phone on Tuesday at a number listed for Woden Teachout.

Kurts was arrested last week after a custodian discovered empty boxes of high-capacity magazines in a garbage can outside a dorm at St. Olaf College, Cordova wrote in the affidavit.

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St. Olaf campus police then searched Kurts’ room and discovered body armor, empty boxes of ammunition, fireworks, knives, a lock-pick set and propane canisters, court documents show.

Police also examined a notebook that included a hand-drawn map of a recreation facility on campus, a plan to steal ammunition from a Walmart and instructions on how to create a “shoot house,” which is a term used for an indoor firing range typically used in military and law enforcement training.

No guns or ammunition were recovered in the search of Kurts’ room and vehicle, Kurts’ defense attorney Paul Rogosheske said in an interview.

According to a statement of probable cause filed by Cordova and Burbank, text messages were sent from Kurts’ phone to an alleged “co-conspirator,” who is not identified in court documents. Those texts included conversations about radio frequencies, rifles and ways to ship items to avoid raising suspicions at the school. One message contained a photo of a box of rifle magazines with a comment “Kids’ve got no idea what’s in here, haha,” according to the court statement.

Another notebook found in Kurts’ car contained detailed notes on the subject of combat with guns, authorities said.

Kurts told campus police that he was a gun enthusiast and that he stored the magazines and ammunition off campus at a gun range, according to court documents. Later, Northfield police spoke with staff at the gun range. They reportedly recognized Kurts as having shot at the range but said the facility does not store firearms or ammunition.

Rogosheske said Kurts does a lot of trap shooting with his family in Vermont.

“What he did here is he saw some magazines that would be cheaper here to buy … for going home where he shoots,” Rogosheske said. “He’s never shot here in Minnesota, and he doesn’t have any guns here. He doesn’t have any ammunition.”

Rogosheske said there were “explanations for everything” that police recovered from Kurts.

“I don’t think you have a potential school shooter that was going to go in and shoot somebody — shoot a bunch of students. There’s no evidence of any argument with anybody. There is no evidence of any animosity among any of the students,” Rogosheske said.

Kurts is a graduate of U-32 High School in East Montpelier, where he was an athlete on the track team. He joined the track team at St. Olaf College, where he was in his second year.

St. Olaf College suspended Kurts prior to his arrest, according to Rogosheske.

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