Woman faces charges after Newtown-style threat

(WTNH) -- The FBI says 19-year-old Amanda Bowden of East Haven planned a suicidal bombing and mass shooting at Gateway Community College, a school she did not attend, making the threat even more disturbing to students.

"If you're upset then go to the get you need. Don't take it out on innocent kids who are just trying to get an education," said Matthew Watkinson.

Federal documents obtained by News 8 show disturbing texts between Bowden and an FBI informant.

Bowden said "I was (explitive) when sandy hook happened lol" and "Cuz I wanted to be the next big one."

She also outlined she would lock doors, saying in texts, "Make it hard for police to get in," "I want people dead," and "Not injured."

"It's pretty ridiculous, I mean, pretty soon after Newtown and all that," said Dan Swiderski.

Students News 8 talked to say they learned about the alleged threat on Facebook. They say they were never notified by the college.

"They should at least canceled class or made sure every student was aware. Not everyone was aware," said Alisha Deleon.

"I didn't get an email at all. It would have been nice to have been acknowledged that this was going on," said Watkinson. "I would have thought twice about maybe you know rumaging around the halls with my ear phones in, I would have taken them out."

The downtown New Haven college got word of the threat February 5. The feds told Gateway there was no imminent threat, so students were not immediately notified.

Gateway did beef up its existing security which includes nearly 100 surveillance cameras but its not clear why she allegedly targeted the college.

"We worked with the New Haven police department, the FBI and the suspect has been apprehended," said Brian Higney, Director of Security. "This individual was not connected to the college in any way that we know of. That's the first thing that we investigated."

Officers also searched Bowden's home on Ozone Road in East Haven. Though she told the informant she had weapons and two napalm bombs, nothing was found.

Bowden was in court Thursday, charged with false information and hoaxes. She is still in custody.

"I didn't feel there was a threat here. If they arrested her for obviously, she was going to shoot somebody here or something like that, I think the school would have done something if they felt they needed to," said Swiderski.

Bowden is due back in federal court on Friday. She faces a maximum of 5 years in prison.