08:28 PM EST on Wednesday, November 16, 2005

By TONY BURBECK / 6NEWS

6NEWS

Police said two students at Bible Christian were attempting to buy a gun.

Students and teachers at one Charlotte private school are back in class Wednesday less than 24 hours after police released details of an averted a Columbine-like attack there.

Two teens were arrested last month after their plot to shoot teachers and classmates was uncovered, police said.

One of the students is scheduled to appear in juvenile court Thursday morning. All those records will be sealed because the student is a juvenile, so it may never be clear exactly what police found in the case.

Police said the two 15-year-old students didn’t have a gun, but they were making a serious attempt to buy one and police said if they hadn't stopped this plot it's likely people would have been hurt.

"They're great guys," said David Somerville, an 11th grader at Bible Christian School.

That's what no one at the school can figure out.

"You don’t expect that in any school, much less one that's bible based," said Thomas Sparks, the basketball coach.

People are wondering how two apparently good kids went bad.

"(They were) from good homes, were doing well academically," said Dr. Ron Allen, the church's pastor.

They are also wondering why, police said, the two threatened to shoot classmates and staff members, including the principal, in a Columbine-style murder plot.

"I don’t have any idea," said Allen.

A plot thwarted by classmates who told administrators, who then told police.

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"(I was) freaked out, I mean, we know the guys," said Summerville.

Pastor Ron Allen said he doesn’t know how many people were targeted or if the students created a "hit list".

"We had no reason to expect that anything of this nature was in their thinking," he said.

Thomas Sparks coaches basketball at the school.

"You just beg God for mercy and grace for those families," he said.

His wife is a teacher but Sparks said she was not targeted. Sparks did say others were told of the plot.

"They called the ones who were on that list," said Sparks.

Allen said he told all students, parents and staff members.

"We have rules here and they are pretty strict," said Somerville, a junior at the school. "I guess they got mad at some of the teachers."

From the classroom to juvenile detention, two students are now charged with conspiracy to commit murder.

"It's just hard to believe that they really intended to go through with it," said Sparks.

Pastor Allen said he's not aware of any specific instances or confrontations that would have led to the threats.

Police said the students, both 15 years old, did get into some minor trouble at the school last year.