Police thwart North Carolina college student's alleged plan to conduct mass murder

Police have stopped an alleged attempt by a 19-year-old college freshman to conduct mass murder at High Point University in North Carolina.

Here's what we know

One of Paul Steber's classmates alerted school security to a potential problem. Security then contacted the police who conducted a raid of Steber's dorm room. He was arrested Tuesday.

The freshman from Boston had allegedly mentioned that he planned to carry out an attack on the school. In addition, he illegally had ammunition and two guns on school grounds: a 12-gauge double-barrel shotgun and a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol.

According to prosecutors, Steber had also been studying previous mass murders and had a "plan and timeline to kill people" at his school before Christmas.

It is illegal to possess a weapon on the campus of an educational institution in the state of North Carolina.

According to a news release from the High Point Police Department, "Steber was charged with two Felony counts of Weapons on Campus or Other Educational Property (Class F Felony)." In addition, "[t]hrough the course of the investigation, detectives developed probable cause to charge Steber with one count of Communicating a Threat of Mass Violence on Educational Property (Class H Felony)."

What else?

Most of the details still have not been released, but prosecutors involved in this case did say that Steber's plans to commit mass murder stemmed from his desire to be part of a fraternity. Prosecutors allege that Steber planned to kill his roommate and then commit suicide if the roommate was accepted to a fraternity and he was not.

Steber was booked on Wednesday. He is being held in Guilford County Jail on a $2 million secure bond for the two weapons charges, and an additional $1 million bond for the threat.

This incident is still being investigated.