"My heart goes out to everyone affected by Grant's struggle with PANDAS, a rare form of OCD," she said in a statement released by her lawyer. On Tuesday, the mother of Grant Acord, the teenager charged with planning to bomb an Albany high school, blamed a controversial form of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
– Grant Acord detailed his alleged plot to blow up his Oregon high school in handwritten journals, and the plans were revealed in an affidavit released yesterday. In one, the 17-year-old envisions arriving at the school with loud music blasting from his car. As he threw a napalm firebomb and then started shooting, he planned to announce, "The Russian grim reaper is here," according to the document. In another, Acord wrote that he would "kill myself before SWAT engages me." There's also a list of "Items I'll Take," which includes not just weapons but things like a hammer and sickle baseball cap and a skull and crossbones belt buckle. The journals also reportedly compare Acord to the Columbine High School shooters, the Oregonian reports; authorities say Acord printed out pages of information about the weapons they used. Acord's mom, Marianne Fox, says he suffers from Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections or PANDAS, a mental illness. According to an author who had written about PANDAS and had spoken with Fox, she was attempting to find a way to get more expensive treatment for Acord. The teen's former stepdad says Acord was also getting therapy and treatment for OCD. (In a statement, Fox called PANDAS "a rare form of OCD," and the Oregonian notes that quite a bit of controversy surrounds the condition.)