THE teen who opened fire on his classmates in Nashville was motivated by the same dark thoughts as Ethan Crumbley, who killed four at his school in Michigan, according to a top social worker.

Solomon Henderson, 17, was desperate to fit in before he shot two students in his school cafeteria – and he’d even been in contact with another school shooter, Natalie Rupnow, according to reports.

“When people have these kind of thoughts, they feel like they’re the only ones that have them,” licensed social worker Shari Botwin said in an exclusive conversation with The U.S. Sun.

“Teens are desperate to fit in, in any way.”

On Wednesday, quiet teen student Henderson took the bus to Antioch High School in Tennessee, went to the bathroom, and then opened fire on his classmates.

He heartlessly murdered Josselin Corea Escalante, 16, and injured another 17-year-old male student in a violent barrage of gunfire before turning the gun on himself.

While his motivation remains unclear, the Metro Nashville Police Department said they found a 300-page document that appears to be a manifesto.

In the disturbed ravings, Henderson spewed far-right hate speech and praised Adolph Hitler and other shooters like Thomas Crooks, who tried to assassinate President Donald Trump.

The monstrous student also described feeling severe self-hatred over being Black and described himself as “subhuman.”

He went on to claim that Natalie Samantha Rupnow – the 15-year-old who fatally shot two people at her school in December – followed him online.

And according to law enforcement sources, the two killers made contact before their deaths, ABC News reported.

Botwin, who wrote Stolen Childhoods – a book about how people can recover from child abuse – said Henderson’s idolization of other shooters comes as no surprise.

She said that young school shooters will “draw inspiration” from other killers “because they feel alone in what they’re thinking.”

“They’re looking for ways to make sense of these awful thoughts,” said the author.

EERIE LINK

Many young killers turn to social media for validation of some of their most horrific ideations.

Rupnow, who shot herself after the violent outburst, had dozens of followers on her X account, where she praised neo-Nazi ideology and violence.

And Salvador Ramos, the 18-year-old who killed 21 people at Robb Elementary School, shared his full plan for the massacre online before he stormed the grounds.

When asked about Henderson’s writings, Botwin was reminded of Crumbley, who murdered four students at Oxford High School in 2021 when he was just 15 years old.

Before the shooting, he drew disturbing pictures of guns and violence and was torturing animals in the months leading up to the massacre.

The signs were so obvious that his parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter for ignoring the red flags.

Botwin said that Henderson, much like Crumbley, was making a desperate cry for help when he wrote about his darkest thoughts.

“What we’re seeing is this is their way of trying to have somebody answer them, respond to them, give them some type of attention,” she said.

“This is not obviously a normal reaction, but in a crazy way, it gives them permission to act or react.”

WARPED THOUGHTS

Henderson whipped out a pistol and opened fire on his classmates at around 11 am.

Cops are still investigating how he got the gun and what his relationship was like with the victims.

Horrific videos taken by other students in the cafeteria captured shrieks of terror as the gunfire rang out.

The shooting was partially streamed on the Kick app, but the website removed it as soon as users realized what was happening.

That horrific video showed Henderson roaming around the school and trying classroom doors, which were all locked.

German Corea, Josselin’s father, said he was devastated after learning of his daughter’s murder.

“It’s not fair,” he told WTVF.

Josselin was an excellent student who played on the soccer team and always made good grades.

She was German’s oldest daughter, but he always thought of her as daddy’s little girl.

“Every day I told her I loved her,” said the heartbroken father.

Teens are desperate to fit in, in any way

Shari BotwinSocial Worker

STOPPING VIOLENCE

While conversations about mental health struggles are becoming far more common among teens, it’s still rare for them to open up about something as taboo as violent ideations.

“When somebody’s having violent thoughts, they don’t want to say it,” said Botwin.

“They don’t want to get in trouble.”

That said, the social worker stressed that as soon as someone tells even one person about thoughts of suicide or violence, they are immediately far less likely to commit the tragic acts.

“That can make the biggest difference,” said Botwin.

“Sometimes just even speaking these awful thoughts helps teenagers not act on them.”

If a student is reserved, avoids eye contact with others, and seems like they’re in “another world,” Botwin urges friends and teachers to ask if they’re OK.

“I was reading a study that said that kids who know that one adult cares about them who’s having these types of thoughts, they’re less like to act on them,” she said.

“Because they’ll think of that adult moments before they pick up the gun.”