FULLERTON – Two Troy High School students were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of plotting a shooting at the Fullerton campus, one they described to investigators as planned to be more deadly than the infamous Columbine shooting, police say.

The two boys, both 16 and whose names were not released because they are juveniles, were overheard discussing plans to “shoot up” the school while attending an athletic event Tuesday evening, said Sgt. Jon Radus of the Fullerton Police Department. The boys also discussed firearms, police said.

Principal William Mynster spoke to students over the school’s PA system Thursday morning, tell them police “are confident the people involved are now in custody. You are safe at Troy High School.”

The person who overheard the discussion secretly took a photo of the students and spoke with Troy’s school resource officer on Wednesday morning, police said. The students had described their planned attack as being “bigger than Columbine,” referring to the 1999 high school shooting in Colorado in which two students killed 12 classmates and one teacher, police said.

Troy, one of six high schools in the Fullerton Joint Union High School District, is a magnet school located near Cal State Fullerton and has more than 2,600 students, according to a fact sheet on the institution.

The officer spoke with Troy High and Fullerton Joint Union High School administrators, who identified the boys from the photo. Multiple officers interviewed the students on campus Wednesday and both students made comments similar to those overheard at the sporting event, Radus said.

Investigators discovered the boys had researched school shootings, including Columbine, and weaponry as recently as Tuesday, the statement said.

Police served warrants at multiple locations in Anaheim on Wednesday. No weapons were found, Radus said.

In a statement, the Fullerton Police Department referred to the students’ plans as a “possible school shooting plot.”

“An immediate plan would have meant we uncovered weapons and a specific date and time,” Radus said. But, he added, lacking those specifics is “just as, if not more, concerning because we didn’t know when this was going to unfold.”

Not finding weapons “has no bearing” on the seriousness of the plot, Radus said.

“We truly believe countless lives were saved” by the person who reported the boys, Radus said.

“People who hear red flags should report those red flags because you don’t want to look back and know you could have stopped a tragedy.”

The boys are in Orange County Juvenile Hall and are being detained on suspicion of making criminal threats and conspiracy to commit a felony. The case will be handed over the the Orange County District Attorney’s Office in the next day so officials there can determine whether to charge the boys, Radus said.

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In his morning announcement Thursday, Mynster said he would be visiting classes throughout the day and counselors and teachers were available to students who needed to talk. He stressed several times the students should feel safe on campus.

“This is a family here, we care about each other,” Mynster said in the annoucement. “This is not the best behavior we are known for. You, again, are a fantastic group of people.”

The few board members who could be reached Wednesday evening referred questions about the plot to the school district administration. But two of them stressed that safety is the district’s primary concern.

“If in fact it was a real threat,” said Marilyn Buchi, a Fullerton Joint Union High School District board member since 1983, “then they (law enforcement) were on top of what was happening and it’s comforting to know that they were able to keep the school safe.”

Anyone with more information is asked to call Fullerton police Officer A. Coyle at 714-738-3156 or go to occrimestoppers.org.

Contact the writer: 714-796-6979 or chaire@ocregister