South Carolina teen who killed dad before shooting up elementary school tried to escape prison by 'digging hole in cell'
A South Carolina teenager "tried to escape jail just days before his sentencing by digging a hole in his cell" as he faces 30 years to life for murdering his father and a six-year-old boy at an elementary school.
Authorities revealed ahead of Tuesday's special hearing for Jesse Osborne, 17, how he tried to escape prison, Greenville News reports.
According to the outlet, Anderson County jail investigator Nathan Mitchell told the hearing a hole was dug near the cell that Osborne and a cellmate shared last month. However, he was unable to escape.
Prosecutors displayed photos of the hole in court and showed a judge thousands of Instagram messages indicating he wanted to become America's most prolific school shooter as he planned to shoot up Townville Elementary School in September 2016.
During the rampage, Osborne wounded six-year-old Jacob Hall, who died three days later from a bullet wound to the leg. Another student and a teacher were also shot at, but they managed to survive.
It soon came to light that Osborne had also killed his father Jeffrey before shooting up the school's playground. The 47-year-old was shot three times.
Osborne had just turned 14 when he drove to Townville Elementary School and opened fire at students who were playing outside on September 28, 2016.
According to the report, his Instagram group "Project Rainbow" was found to be debating whether it was better to shoot at an elementary school or middle school. They eventually settled on the elementary school considering there was no on-campus police officer.
FBI Special Agent Shandal Ewing read out social media messages by Osborne during the hearing on Tuesday.
"I've been planning for two years so I'm definitely ready," he wrote in one of the messages.
"If you hate school shoot it up. That's what I'm gonna do," he wrote in another message.
Osborne discussed with his group in the days leading up to the shooting how he wanted to kill large numbers of people on campus.
"I HAVE TO BEAT ADAM LANZA," the eighth-grader wrote just nine days before the tragedy, referring to the Sandy Hook shooter. "I think ill probably most likely kill around 50 or 60. If I get lucky maybe 150."