In September of 2019 Alexis Wilson was charged with a felony count of terrorism after she allegedly showed a fellow employee at a McAlester pizza place a picture of her new AK-47 and told them that she planned on using the gun to “kill 400 students for fun.”

Wilson, who’s now 19, will avoid any prison time over her threats after prosecutors dropped the felony charge and offered her a deal to plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of outraging public decency. In lieu of jail time Wilson’s received a one-year deferred sentence and will have to pay a $200 fine and court costs.

Pittsburg County sheriff’s deputies seized an AK-47 rifle, six ammunition clips, high-velocity bullets and a 12-gauge shotgun with a stock sleeve for extra shells from Wilson’s residence, court documents state.

Court documents state a receipt shows Wilson purchased a Century Arms VSKA 7.62×39 AK-47 with a clip, five additional magazines and 160 rounds of high-caliber ammunition from a McAlester gun store.

A deputy testified at a previous court date that Wilson legally purchased the gun.

Wilson was booked into the Pittsburg County Jail in 2019 wearing a T-shirt referencing “The Anarchist Cookbook” — the 1971 book advocating for violent civil disobedience that has been found among the belongings of school shooters.

A deputy later testified that Wilson said she was previously removed from McAlester schools for violent tendencies.

It sounds like ultimately prosecutors had a lot of circumstantial evidence but no real proof that Wilson actually intended to carry out her alleged threat. The same deputy who testified to Wilson’s removal from the McAlester schools also testified that when he examined Wilson’s phone he saw “references to the Columbine shooting, pictures of McAlester High School’s graduation venue, and dates and warnings in reference to McAlester’s graduation ceremonies,” but even that may not have been enough evidence to convict Wilson on the terrorism charge.

If Wilson had gone to trial on the original charge, she could have faced the possibility of life in prison if she was convicted. That’s obviously a far different outcome than a one-year deferred sentence, which honestly seems a little light to me. I’m surprised that the judge in the case didn’t at least mandate some sort of mental health treatment for Wilson given the circumstances of her arrest and the material found on her phone.

Court documents state deputies found on Wilson’s iPhone texts saying she cut her hair to resemble one of the Columbine school shooters, pictures of mass shootings, and references to graduation crowds and dates.

Deputies wrote that Wilson referenced the number of exits at the McAlester High School auditorium that holds graduations, potential dates for the ceremonies, and that she would be “discovered” as the “next mass shooter.”

That might not have been enough evidence to convince prosecutors that they could obtain a conviction on the terrorism charge, but it’s concerning enough that the teen should have been ordered to receive some counseling. I can only hope that Alexis Wilson has outgrown her fascination with the Columbine killers and school shootings and will use this gift from the criminal justice system to turn her life towards a new direction.