Story highlights Two teens charged with conspiracy to commit murder

Suspects allegedly referenced Columbine High School shooting

(CNN) Two central Florida teens were arrested Thursday on suspicion of planning to commit a mass shooting at their middle school the next day -- an alleged plot that came to light through rumors circulating among students, authorities said.

The boys, 13 and 14, were arrested at their homes. They're accused of planning to open fire Friday at The Villages Charter Middle School near the city of Wildwood, the Sumter County Sheriff's Office said.

Officials investigating the rumors learned that some students had been warned not to come to school on Friday, according to the sherrif's office.

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In talks with investigators, both suspects admitted to talking about the plan, and both mentioned the deadly 1999 mass shooting at Colorado's Columbine High School , a massacre that happened a few years before either of the teens was born, the sheriff's office said.

No information was released by the sheriff's office about a motive for the alleged plot or details about the context in which the students allegedly mentioned the Columbine shooting.

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