Back in December, 17-year-old Logan Pringle and 16-year-old Preston Hinebaugh were arrested for an alleged school shooting plot against Westmont Hilltop Junior-Senior High School in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Pringle is said to have threatened the school on more than one occasion, and was expelled for trying to set the school on fire. When police searched Hinebaugh’s home, they found a cache of weapons, including some ghost guns.
Ghost guns are when the gun parts are purchased separately, then assembled without any serial number. Unfortunately, this type of untraceable gun is legal in many states, including Pennsylvania.
Hinebaugh was said to have had unfettered access to of at least two of the semi-automatic rifles that police found.
At the time of Hinebaugh’s initial arrest, it was made known that the ghost guns were assembled by someone in the Hinebaugh family, but that family member was never identified.
This past March, Preston Hinebaugh’s father, 51-year-old Philson Hinebaugh, was arrested and charged with evidence tampering. According to local police, Hinebaugh the elder allegedly presented police with a gun that he claimed was from his son’s bedroom. Except, the AR-22 he gave to police was not the gun from Preston’s bedroom. The other guns that were seized were all AR-15s.
Why the switcheroo? Did the old man think his son would receive a lesser charge for a lower-powered gun? It can’t be because ghost guns were being made in the house, they’re legal, after all. Maybe one of the ‘responsible gun owners™’ out there can fill us in.
Anyway, in my initial post about the plot, I said it looks like we may have another case of the Crumbleys. It’s looking more like I was correct.
(Sources)
Real Crime with Trench Reynolds 