Messages reveal boy planned a school shooting worse than Parkland but instead killed himself

Ashley May | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Police: 7th grader planned school shooting, shot himself According to police, a message on the 13-year-old boy's phone said, "I'd hurt and destroy something bigger but my schools an easy target."

A 13-year-old boy planned to carry out a school shooting before he shot himself inside an Ohio middle school bathroom last week, police said.

The Jackson Township Police Department uncovered messages from Feb. 14, the day of the Parkland school shooting, to Feb. 20 on the boy's phone detailing an eight-step plan of attack at Jackson Memorial Middle School.

"I'd hurt and destroy something bigger but my schools an easy target," the boy wrote, according to a news release from Jackson Police Chief Mark Brink.

More: What parents should know about the National School Walkout

More: Walmart bans gun sales to anyone under 21 after Parkland, Fla. school shooting

More: 13-year-old girl charged with 15 felony counts for school threats in Pennsylvania

The messages say he planned the shooting for weeks and wanted it to be "bigger than anything this country's ever seen."

Police said he expressed an admiration for the Columbine shooters.

The seventh-grade student died after shooting himself in the head Feb. 21. He brought a .22 rifle to school that morning and was observed leaving a bathroom, holding the gun. A student told faculty, and before 8 a.m., the boy was found lying on the bathroom floor, according to police.

"No evidence has been discovered to explain why [the boy] changed his mind from shooting others at the school," a police report states.

The school went on lockdown because of the incident, and students said they spent two to three hours hiding inside closets while parents waited outside the school.

Contributing: WKYC-TV, Cleveland

Follow Ashley May on Twitter: @AshleyMayTweets