Background: Rhodes Middle School in San Antonio, Texas (Google Maps). Inset: Ashley Pardo (Bexar County Sheriff’s Office).
A Texas mother is accused of assisting her son in planning a mass shooting at his middle school, reportedly expressing to police her approval of his “violent expressions.”
As reported in an affidavit by local CBS affiliate KENS, Ashley Pardo, aged 33, was taken into custody on Monday after authorities were alerted to threats allegedly made by her son, who is in middle school. Police noted his interest in “past mass shooters.” The affidavit revealed that a family member, identified by the San Antonio Express-News as the boy’s grandmother, contacted the San Antonio Police Department’s behavioral threat team. She discovered a loaded rifle and pistol magazines at the residence where she and the boy resided.
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The grandmother further informed detectives that prior to Pardo arriving to take her son to school, he mentioned his intent to become “famous” and referenced “14 words,” a clear allusion to a notorious white supremacist phrase.
The Express-News also reported that the grandmother found an improvised explosive device in the boy’s room that had a name written on it, as if the device was meant to target that person. She also reportedly found more white supremacist materials.
According to the affidavit, the grandmother told detectives that she had once caught her grandson hitting a live bullet with a hammer, seemingly hoping it would explode. She stopped him and asked him where he got the bullet, and he reportedly replied that his mother gave it to him.
KENS reported that police had first been made aware of the boy’s disturbing interests in January, when he was questioned about “concerning drawings” he made of Rhodes Middle School that allegedly featured a muzzle flash and a map of a “suicide route.” He was suspended in April after he was reportedly discovered searching for the New Zealand mosque shootings from 2019 on his school-issued computer.
The boy was sent to an alternative school and began living with his grandmother due to his erratic behavior. The affidavit stated that Rhodes Middle School officials worked out a security plan to prepare for the boy’s return to the school.
When Pardo was questioned by detectives, the affidavit stated that she was not just unconcerned with her son’s fascination with violence — she allegedly “expressed to the school her support” for her son’s “violent expressions and drawings.” Pardo also reportedly told detectives that she had been buying her son tactical gear and ammunition in exchange for babysitting his younger siblings.
Investigators wrote in the affidavit, “[Pardo’s] refusal to see [her son’s] concerning behavior and her assistance in gathering items for him that have been found to have been used in other acts of mass targeted violence, it is believed she is facilitating [her son’s] desire to carry out his threats.”
Rhodes Middle School confirmed in a letter to the students’ families that the boy had also been detained and faces a charge of terrorism.
Pardo was charged with aiding in the commission of terrorism and taken into custody on Monday. She posted $75,000 bond and was released. Her next court hearing is scheduled for July 17.
