Heather Lyons

Heather Lyons appears in Worcester Central District Court with her attorney John Garrity on Aug. 22, 2016

(Scott J. Croteau | MassLive.com)

WORCESTER -- The woman accused of saying she would plant bombs and randomly shoot people on the Worcester Polytechnic Institute campus had called the plan "natural selection" and also had a "hit list" written in a journal, a prosecutor said.

The new details were mentioned in Worcester Central District Court during the dangerousness hearing of Heather Lyons. It appears there were 11 people on the alleged list.

"A hit list was found in the defendant's journal," Assistant District Attorney Kelly Heard told Judge Andrew D'Angelo.

The list included people she worked with or used to work with and former classmates in school, police said. Heard said Lyons had detailed bomb plans in a journal, designs of floor plans of the WPI campus and diagrams of clothing she would wear the during attacks.

"She intended to hurt people," Heard said.

The prosecutor said Lyons' mother told her police her daughter "might want to go out in a blaze of glory" like the suspects in the Columbine High School and Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings.

Lyons, a 23-year-old resident of 14 Longmeadow Ave., had been working for the WPI food service vendor when she started sketching plans to commit mass murder at the campus, authorities said.

She was arrested last week on a charge of bomb/hijack threat with serious public harm and brought to court. Authorities said Lyons had instructions to make pipe bombs and other types of bombs, but did not have access to weapon or bomb making materials.

Defense attorney John Garrity said his client never willfully communicated a threat.

D'Angelo found Lyons too dangerous to be released and ordered Lyons held without bail as her criminal case continues in court. The judge said Lyons had an extremely dangerous plan that discussed a mass murder. Her case was continued to Sept. 20.

Worcester Detective John Doherty, one of the investigators who interviewed Lyons, testified during the dangerousness hearing. He told the prosecutor that Lyons mentioned wanting to conduct a Columbine-style shooting at WPI.

"She stated that she would need six bombs, a pump action shotgun and a Glock-style handgun," Doherty said.

Police were called to UMass Memorial Medical Center--University Campus around 5:45 p.m. on Aug. 11 after Lyons, an employee of Chartwells Food Service, was in the emergency room being evaluated by mental health staff. Lyons had made homicidal threats against the college, police said.

Lyons told authorities she planned to place a decoy bomb in the WPI Campus Center, then set off real bombs in Morgan Hall. Police interviewed Lyons' therapist, who told investigators she believed Lyons could conduct some type of dangerous act if someone or an event triggered her.

WPI said the entire campus was swept and "no active threat" was found.

Defense attorney John Garrity asked Doherty if Lyons was ever read her rights while investigators spoke to her at the hospital on Aug. 11. Lyons had told the investigators she had Asperger's syndrome.

Doherty said Lyons was not given her Miranda rights during the interview. Police applied for an arrest warrant on Aug. 15 while Lyons was still being treated in the hospital.

"She's not dangerous," Garrity said. "No where does it say where she is taking any actions to purse any kind of plan."

The information about the "plan" only was discovered after Lyons spoke with her therapist, he said.

The defense attorney said his client had no criminal record and she suffers from mental health issues. Lyons had not tried to acquire bombs or weapons and was just "emotionally upset." She is currently receiving mental health treatment, the lawyer said.