Joshua Hoggan met with Columbine's Frank DeAngelis before school-bombing-plot bust

Most local news outlets aren't using the name of the sixteen-year-old Utah student who met with Columbine principal Frank DeAngelis a month before being arrested, along with eighteen-year-old Dallin Morgan, in an alleged plot to blow up their high school. But Utah media is identifying him as Joshua Hoggan, whose...

By Michael Roberts

January 30, 2012

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According to an arrest affidavit obtained by KSL-TV, Hoggan and Morgan planned to explode a device at a Roy High School assembly, the idea being to maximize the destruction, and the body count.

Hoggan is said to have sent one friend a text that read, "If I tell you one day not to go to school, make damn sure you and (name redacted) are not there." He added, "Dallin is on on it. He wants revenge on the world, too."

Another text reportedly read: "I've just been kinda planning my get back at the world thing and I figured if you had anyone you wanted revenge on, I could see if I have anything planned."

The affidavit also claims that Hoggan dismissed Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold because they'd accomplished only about 1 percent of their homicidal goals. He planned to do much better.

As for Hoggan's tweets, many of them seem benign, including this one:

@Heil_Hoggan
Josh Hoggan I *really* need to cut my caffeine intake...
Nov 13 11 via web Favorite Retweet Reply

There's also a re-tweet from presidential candidate Mitt Romney praising the United States Marine Corps. And numerous posts display a sense of humor. Take this one:

@Heil_Hoggan
Josh Hoggan Apparently I'm a conceited humorous asshole. Oh wait, I already knew that.
Nov 07 11 via TweetCaster for Android Favorite Retweet Reply

In retrospect, though, it's tempting to read a larger subtext into tweets such as this one:

@Heil_Hoggan
Josh Hoggan I know I'm a fuck up, but I didn't know I was that bad.
Oct 28 11 via TweetCaster for Android Favorite Retweet Reply

And this note would provide plenty of grist for Freudians:

@Heil_Hoggan
Josh Hoggan I've been privileged to have many lost souls flock to me, but I've been damned with the curse of not having a solid foundation of my own.
Regarding the visit to Columbine, the affidavit places the date at December 12, while DeAngelis says it happened on December 15. According to DeAngelis, the conversation was mostly about healing and moving on -- darkly ironic topics if the theory held by law enforcement is true.

DeAngelis now says he's going to be much more cautious about such meetings. Meanwhile, the Associated Press is reporting that while Hoggan and Morgan had blueprints and plans, including a scheme to escape using a plane, they had not yet obtained explosives. As such, the plot appears to have been foiled in a very preliminary stage.

Look below to see a mug shot of Morgan, a photo of Hoggan and a video package by 9News.

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Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

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