Behind bars for just thinking?

Police claimed they prevented a mass shooting.

National news outlets picked up the story, describing how police foiled a mass murder plot at a ‘Twilight’ screening and a Walmart in a small Missouri town. It was four months after the horrific movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado.

But was Blaec Lammers really planning a killing spree? Or is a mentally ill young man in prison because he admitted to having bad thoughts?

As the Missouri Supreme Court prepares to decide his fate, the News-Leader investigated Lammers’ case, reviewing hundreds of pages of investigative records, as well as interviews with the lead detective, attorneys, Lammers’ psychologist, and his parents.

And, in an exclusive interview from the Missouri maximum security prison in Jefferson City, Blaec Lammers himself contends that scattered thoughts from his unmedicated mind and the terror from recent shootings led a small-town justice system to condemn an unstable young man.

Blaec Lammers was convicted of first-degree assault and armed criminal action for talking to investigators about shooting up a Bolivar Walmart or a movie theater in November 2012. He was sentenced to 15 years.

His mother had told law enforcement that he had access to guns and might not be taking his medications. She was concerned he might be planning to kill himself.

Blaec Lammers was unarmed when police found him at Sonic. He did not shoot, hurt or threaten anyone. He was convicted based on statements he made during an interview with investigators.

Blaec Lammers suffers from anti-social personality disorder, borderline personality disorder and autism. He said he told investigators what he believed they wanted to hear.

Though his conviction was upheld in March by a 2 to1 vote of the Missouri Southern Court of Appeals, the Missouri Supreme Court has agreed to consider the appeal next month.

“I’m so glad they are actually going to review it. They could have just said no,” said William Lammers, Blaec’s father. “I think that speaks volumes about ‘was he wrongly convicted? Should he be in prison?’

“I hope the Supreme Court will look at his history and say, ‘This kid does not need to be in prison. He needs help.’ And that is what is lacking in Missouri — there really is no help.”

Blaec Lammers on how he might change people's opinion of him.​ 36 second video:

What happened

Patricia Lammers said she was desperate when she went to the Polk County Sheriffs Department in November of 2012.

Earlier in the week, Blaec Lammers, then age 20, had talked to her about suicide and of feeling like a failure. Then, Patricia Lammers learned that he had purchased two rifles and ammunition, but had given the guns and ammo to his girlfriend’s father for safekeeping.

Blaec Lammers’s father, William Lammers, was in New York at the time. Over the phone, the couple agreed that Patricia Lammers should alert law enforcement that Blaec had access to guns, might be off his medications and was likely suicidal.

Patricia Lammers on why she contacted law enforcement.​ 27 second video:

Patricia Lammers said she made a mistake, though, when she described the guns to deputies. She said the guns looked like those used by James Holmes, the shooter at the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater.

An officer located Blaec Lammers at Sonic with his girlfriend later that day. As that officer was talking to Lammers about his medications and mental state, then-Bolivar Police detective Dustin Ross showed up and asked Lammers to accompany him to the police station for more questioning.

Ross was fired from the police department two months later for reasons unrelated to Lammers' case.

While being questioned by Ross and other officers, Blaec Lammers initially denied purchasing the guns with the intent of hurting people. He first told investigators he wanted the guns for hunting, but eventually acknowledged that he had “things in common” with the recent shooters.

“I don’t plan on doing anything harmful besides hunting, but everyone thinks that I’m going to go and — my mom thinks it’s going — like Virginia Tech’s going to happen with me or Walmart or the guy at the movie theater in Arizona,” Blaec said in the interview with Ross.

Ross replied, “Well, why do you think she thinks that?”

“Because every one of those people have, like, a mental illness,” Blaec said.

Ross pressed on.

Dustin Ross interviews Blaec Lammers and doesn't buy his hunting story.​ 22 second video:

After several minutes Blaec offered another reason.

“Well, honestly, I kind of wanted to impress my dad ... He has guns. And I like — I wanted to just impress him; be like — because I want to be like him,” Blaec said to investigators.

That didn’t fly either.

Blaec Lammers told investigators he was thinking about suicide.

“Well, nobody buys two guns to kill themself,” Ross replied.

Blaec Lammers tells Dustin Ross he bought the guns on impulse. 26 second video:

Blaec Lammers then said he bought the guns on impulse and that it wasn’t until he was target shooting at soda cans that he had homicidal thoughts.

But with a persistent Ross still not buying his story that day at the station, Blaec Lammers eventually agreed with Ross that he had thought about “shooting up” a local movie theater but changed his mind to Walmart, where he could get more ammunition.

Blaec Lammers on how he views his actions now. 13 second video:

His parents and attorney say because of his mental illness and learning disability, Blaec Lammers was vulnerable to interrogation techniques and easily led to agree with the investigators.

“I wish all of America could hear that interrogation tape,” Patricia Lammers said. “I know it’s a detective’s job to twist peoples’ words around and get you to say things, but if you could hear how they manipulated him. They knew he was mentally ill. And they kept calling him a liar. Blaec is the type of person, ‘If you call me a liar so many times, I’m probably going to tell you what you want to hear.'”

Psychologist John Phillips treated Blaec at Lakeland Behavioral Health in Springfield. When asked if he believes Blaec could be vulnerable to interrogation techniques, Phillips said, “absolutely” due to Blaec’s autism and Aspergers syndromes.

Could Blaec Lammers be vulnerable to interrogation techniques?​ 28 second video:

“If you overstimulate Blaec, he will freak out and he will do whatever he needs to do to get out of that situation,” Phillips said. “Even lie.”

Blaec Lammers later told the News-Leader that he lied to Ross about buying the guns to hunt or to impress his dad. He said he had the money and thought the guns “looked cool” so he bought them on impulse. It wasn’t until the next day when he and a friend were target shooting that it occurred to him that something bad might happen so he asked his girlfriend’s father to hold the guns.

The next day William Lammers got a call, telling him to turn on the news.

“I was in New York and saw his name ticker across Fox News and I’m thinking, ‘Wow. This is already national news: A Missouri boy Blaec Lammers’ mother helped keep a terroristic massacre from happening.’ I’m watching this, brushing my teeth, going ‘Oh my god,’ ” William Lammers said.

About the same time, a co-worker had alerted Patricia Lammers to the flurry of national news stories about her and her son.

“I was crying. I was in shock. I was in disbelief,” she recalled. “And I was mad at the Bolivar Police Department because why didn’t someone call me? Why didn’t they let Blaec call me?

“They were making me out to be the hero. I wasn’t a hero. I felt like my son had been violated,” she said. “He is a mentally ill child and no one could see that.”

Blaec Lammers was convicted in a bench trial in March 2014. Former Polk County Judge William J. Roberts, who convicted and sentenced Lammers, told the News-Leader he could not comment about the case until the Supreme Court reaches a decision.

Defense attorney Donald Cooley said he believes the timing of Blaec Lammers’ arrest — a few months after the Colorado movie theater massacre — was unfortunate for his client.

Folks were on high alert, Cooley said, and investigators were all too eager to liken Blaec Lammers to the Colorado shooter.

“If there had been more interest in helping him than building their own Aurora, Colorado case, then something could have been done,” Cooley said. “The timing and the events surrounding when this happened to occur set Blaec’s case into a situation where Blaec ended up getting convicted when he shouldn’t have.”

Donald Cooley, Blaec Lammers' defense attorney, gives his view of his client's situation.​ in 28 second video:

To the Supreme Court

Although Lammers’ conviction was upheld by an appeals court, one judge dissented.

In a dissenting opinion, Missouri Southern Court of Appeals Judge William Francis, Jr., said, “Lammers had a history of psychiatric problems, lawfully purchased firearms and ammunition, went target shooting with a friend, then deposited the firearms with his girlfriend’s father. He later agreed, upon prompting by police, that at some point he thought about shooting people at a movie theater and at Walmart. There is simply no trigger-pulling event in the record before us.”

In his appeal, Cooley argued that Lammers “never even placed any person in danger of being injured or even threatened with injury of any sort.”

Cooley goes on to criticize prosecutors, saying the state’s case “is premised entirely upon the assumption Mr. Lammers' lawful purchase of the two firearms, known to be used in hunting, was done so with a specific intent to kill or seriously injure unknown possible victims at Walmart.”

Cooley said the state’s only proof of intent came from Blaec Lammers' own statements made to investigators in November 2012.

The state will attempt to convince the supreme court that Blaec Lammers took “a substantial step” toward carrying out his assault, and therefore meets the legal threshold for conviction.

“(Blaec Lammers) purchased weapons, practiced with the weapons, and planned to shoot persons and that such conduct was a substantial step toward the commission of the crime,” assistant attorney general Robert J. Bartholomew said in his brief.

Did he have a target? Tickets? A clown mask?

When asked what convinced him to press charges against Blaec Lammers, Prosecutor Ken Ashlock told the News-Leader he relied on information in the police reports and probable cause statement. The News-Leader filed a Sunshine request to obtain all investigative materials, including the interrogation video, from the Bolivar Police Department.

Here is what we found:

■ At one point during his interview with police, Blaec Lammers told officers that he had purchased tickets to the Twilight movie. Roger Barron with the Bolivar Police Department made a subpoena request to MovieTickets.com for documentation associated with the purchase of those tickets, but evidence the tickets existed was never presented at trial.

Blaec Lammers said he lied to officers about the tickets. He said he never purchased tickets and was telling officers what he believed they wanted to hear.

Prosecutor Ken Ashlock said investigators didn’t get the documentation because the company was out of state and the documentation would have been too difficult to obtain.

• In the probable cause statement, former detective Dustin Ross wrote, “His (Blaec’s) mother further stated that with the opening of the new Twilight movie she was concerned that Blaec Lammers may have intentions of shooting people at the movie.”

Patricia Lammers denies saying that and accuses law enforcement of twisting her words.

“I knew nothing of the Twilight movie,” she said.

• In his investigative report, Ross referenced a 2009 incident at Walmart. Ross wrote, “Blaec on that occasion was armed with a knife and was wearing a clown mask.”

According to the incident report from 2009, Blaec Lammers was not wearing a clown mask; he was holding a Halloween mask. William Lammers said Blaec was not wearing a mask when William found him.

The report said Blaec was following around an employee of the store.

In an interview with the News-Leader for this story, Ross said he couldn’t remember if he had read the 2009 incident report or not before including that detail in the 2012 report. He also said he watched Walmart security video of the 2009 incident but couldn’t remember if Blaec had the mask on or not.

The News-Leader filed a Sunshine request for all investigative materials from the 2009 incident. The Bolivar Police provided an incident report but no video.

• Blaec’s parents say law enforcement made no attempt to search their home, Blaec Lammers’ room or computer. The Lammers argue that if investigators truly believed Blaec Lammers had a plan, they would have tried to find evidence of the plan such as notes, a diary entry or suspicious Internet searches.

• Ross was fired from the Bolivar Police Department two months after Lammers’ arrest, but was allowed to testify at the trial. According to a termination letter from the Bolivar Board of Alderman, Ross used intimidation and/or threats regarding future employment of other officers, failed to maintain chain of custody on evidence, respond to citizen complaints, maintain accurate records of activities and investigations, and failed to follow direct commands from superiors.

Ross has since filed a suit against the city citing discrimination and retaliation. That case is scheduled for trial next year.

Ross said he stands by his investigation. He also said he did not coerce Blaec Lammers to say he bought the guns with the intent to harm others.

“When you are interrogating someone for an alleged crime, whatever the case may be, very rarely do they come in and tell the truth. It’s kind of one of those things. He had his story which really didn’t pan out, so you try to fill in the pieces and break his story down, piece by piece,” Ross said. “Do I think he had a target? Sure. Absolutely."

“What I would like to see happen with this case or any case is that the mental health issue gets awareness,” Ross added.

Troubled mind, troubled past

Blaec Lammers was diagnosed with dyslexia in the first grade. When he reached his teen years, his personality disorders began to surface. He was placed on the autism spectrum.

“Even as a kid, looking back, he was a loner. He liked to play by himself,” William Lammers said.

Patricia Lammers agreed.

“He was just very quiet, very shy,” she added. “From the time he was in elementary through high school, he was always picked on.”

From the prison visiting room, Blaec Lammers reflected on his struggles to fit in.

“In elementary and middle school, I was in the special ed classes and speech so I didn’t have any friends,” he said. “When I got to high school, it was in a new state, a new school. I was by myself. I was a loner. All through ninth grade I didn’t know anybody so the whole year I ate my lunch in the bathroom.”

By the time Lammers was arrested in 2012, he had been hospitalized because of his mental illness seven times. But the standard 96-hour psychiatric hold never seemed to help.

And though he had a history of mental illness, there was nothing in the standard background check to stop Blaec Lammers from legally purchasing the guns.

During his teen years, Blaec Lammers had nearly a dozen different psychiatric diagnoses and had multiple psychotropic medications to go along with them. Blaec’s parents firmly believe the medications contributed to their son’s escalating mental illness.

According to his mother, Blaec Lammers displays traits common in those with anti-social and borderline personality disorders: he lacks empathy towards others and is often dishonest. He has problems with impulsive spending and behavior. He has angry outbursts. Even though he is 23, he has the mentality of a 12-year-old, she said.

He often spoke about wanting to kill himself and has attempted suicide a few times.

He was hospitalized after the 2009 incident at Walmart with the knife and mask.He later admitted he was having homicidal thoughts about a Walmart employee. He told the News-Leader he had watched the movie ‘Halloween’ and was having trouble separating events in the movie from reality.

Blaec Lammers on not being able to tell movies from reality.​ 18 second video:

In 2011, he struck a coworker in the back with a rope tied to a gate latch.

His parents had him arrested a few years ago after he threatened to hit his mother, but later dropped the charges. They had hoped spending a night in jail would be a wake up call for their son.

It didn’t phase him.

“One day I’m sitting in my office and he walks in with a letter. He just handed me the letter and it said, ‘I’m having homicidal thoughts,’ ” recalled William Lammers.

On this occasion, Blaec Lammers was willing to be admitted to an in-patient facility. He spent three months at Lakeland Behavioral Health until the insurance ran out. According to his parents, his condition had not improved and the family was left with a $50,000 bill.

Everywhere they turned, the Lammers say they heard the same thing: Nothing can be done until he does something.

William Lammers shook his head with frustration.

“I told the sheriff, ‘I hope he doesn’t do something to your family,’” William Lammers said. “The system did not work for us.”

The Lammers have since moved from Bolivar.

While they are hopeful their son’s conviction is overturned next month, they worry what will happen if he is released.

“We (will be) almost back in the same boat — how do I prevent my son from committing suicide?” Patricia Lammers said. “Deep down, he is a great kid. His brain is different. He didn’t ask to be born this way and my heart breaks for him every day.”

Phillips, Blaec’s former psychologist, called the case a “terrible miscarriage of justice.”

Psychologist John Phillips treated Blaec Lammers​. in 27 second video:

“I believe law enforcement overreacted,” Phillips said. “I believe based on the way he was interrogated, he confessed all kinds of things that he didn’t do.”

Missouri Supreme Court will consider Blaec Lammers’ appeal on Oct. 28.

To see more of Blaec Lammer's interview and police investigation see videos below.