HollyMatkinLas Vegas, NV – A Las Vegas physics teacher has been charged with making terroristic threats, after she told a friend she planned to “poke a lot of holes in a lot of people” to help empower other women “to become serial killers,” police documents said.
Bonanza High School teacher Leslie McGourty, 48, sent a series of text messages to a friend throughout the day on May 16 and discussed her plan to carry out a bloody massacre by shooting herself and others during a Las Vegas concert on May 19, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
“A perfect plan with my favorite song surrounded by a bunch of f****d up misfits like I am,” McGourty wrote.
“Imagine knowing exactly the moment that you’re going to die. I know exactly that your favorite song will be playing. By your favorite band. It’s just too perfect,” she said
McGourty told her friend, referred to in police documents as “James,” that she was “forming a plan” that would “blow everyone’s mind,” KTNV reported.
“People will remember me,” she said. “I have the means, motive, and brains. Vegas will lose its luster after me.”
McGourty explained that because she was a woman, her massacre would never be forgotten.
“Who knows? Maybe I will start a movement. Another me-too movement,” she said. “But this time in which women feel empowered enough to become serial killers.”
“You have a hole deep inside you are trying to fill,” James told McGourty during the exchange. “A little voice screaming to be cared for.”
“But since nobody’s filling it I’m going to poke a lot of holes in a lot of people on Saturday,” she replied.
James reported his concerns to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department on May 16. Officers responded to McGourty’s home to take her into custody, but quickly discovered that the teacher had already left for work, the Las Vegas Journal-Review reported.
“It was at that point we made the request for [Clark County School District police] to immediately take Leslie into custody and to be removed from the classroom,” police said, according to the news outlet.
McGourty was arrested on school grounds at 7:47 a.m., KTNV reported.
She later told police that she planned to attend the Life of Agony concert at the Beauty Bar in downtown Las Vegas on May 19, the Daily Mail reported.
Investigators noted that they “did not get much of a reaction from her” when they read portions of the text message exchange out loud to her, according to the Las Vegas Journal-Review.
McGourty said she “often has those types of conversations” with James, police said.
According to KNSV, McGourty has worked at Bonanza High School since August of 2015.
Her mother, Natalie McGourty, told KTNV that McGourty had been teaching for over 22 years.
“She comes from law-abiding citizens,” Natalie told the news outlet. “We don’t even own guns.”
Several Bonanza High School students said that McGourty would often speak of her personal issues during class, KSNV reported.
“I know she always comes in talking about her boyfriends and who she dates, but I didn’t think she’d be making threats to people,” student Lyric Lyons said.
“She scared me,” student Natalie Aldana said. “She always talked about her husband and divorce. Too much personal stuff.”
McGourty has been charged with making terroristic threats, the Miami Herald reported.
School district officials said that McGourty would be “assigned to home” once she was released from jail, the Las Vegas Journal-Review reported.
Life of Agony canceled their May 19 show after learning of the potential threat.
“Safety for our fans is always our number one priority, so once we were notified by law enforcement about a possible threat to the venue, we felt it was in everyone’s best interest to cancel the show as a precaution, since the investigation was still active,” the band said in a Facebook post.
McGourty was released on bond, and is due back in court on June 19, the Las Vegas Journal-Review reported.