Waylon Kurts: Minnesota college student found with knives, ammo and notebook for possible shooting plan
NORTHFIELD, MINNESOTA: A Minnesota college student is facing charges after he was found with ammunition magazines, knives, and a tactical vest, among other items. Also found was a hand-drawn map of a site on campus with shooting instructions, court records said. Waylon Kurts, 20, was arrested on Thursday, April 6, 2023, after authorities were tipped off by a custodian at St Olaf College in Northfield.
The custodian said there were two empty packages that belonged to the sophomore for high-capacity magazines dumped in a garbage can outside dorm rooms. Kurts was eventually charged with conspiracy to commit second-degree assault and conspiracy to commit threats of violence, making terroristic threats, and planning a theft.
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What was found in Waylon Kurts' room?
Upon searching Kurts' room on campus, cops discovered a tactical vest, empty boxes for ammunition and magazines, a tactical knife, a folding knife, firearm earmuffs, six propane canisters, fireworks, lighter fluid, a battery with wires, and a lock pick set, according to the charging documents, New York Post reported. Police found notebooks where he wrote about his plan to steal ammunition from a Walmart and police radio frequencies. He also plotted to steal a hand-drawn map of a recreational facility on campus, according to the Star Tribune.
The map had an arrow showing a travel route and exit path. Besides several suspicious items found in Kurts’ room and vehicle, it was revealed upon searching his phone that he sent a text to someone about buying guns from unlicensed sellers, a criminal complaint alleged. He also texted photographs of a box containing what appeared to be rifle magazines resting on a campus bench, with the words, "Kids’ve got no idea whats in here, haha.”
Cops also found notes in Kurts' vehicle, with sentences like, “Combat is much faster and closer than you think” and “the average door takes 2.5 kicks." According to KARE11, a notebook had directions for where a person can be shot on their body. “One shot to the T-box equals death instantly,” the author of the notes wrote. A section of the notebook called "Things to be Good at", read, "Shoot a person in 3 areas: Upper thorasic [sic], T-zone on face, Pelvis is a good target.”
Waylon Kurts 'had been planning a mass casualty event'
Kurts, from Montpelier, Vermont, is a member of the St Olaf’s track team but was suspended from the college after his arrest. Paul Rogosheske, Kurts’ attorney, said that his client “has some things that look funny" but that nothing posed a threat to anyone. He said Kurts is a camper and hunter and shoots a lot. He also claimed there were no guns or ammunition taken from Kurts’ room or vehicle, adding that his client drew the map for someone else.
Northfield Police Chief Mark Elliott said authorities are trying to determine what Kurts may have been planning. Prosecutors with the Rice County Attorney’s Office alleged in a memo filed with the court that the student “had been planning a mass casualty event." They said he would have possibly targeted the Skoglund-Tostrud recreational facility with “both firearms and explosives.”
According to Kurts' family, his guns were at their home in Vermont and he was not involved in any shooting in Minnesota. However, according to a shooting range and gun shop in Burnsville, he had visited “several times to shoot.” Kurts, who has now been jailed on $100,000 bail, is reportedly due back in court on April 21.