Men Accused Of Plotting Mass Shooting At Norco College: Trial Update

NORCO, CA — A convicted felon who allegedly plotted to perpetrate killings on the campus of Norco College told his cohort that he dreamed of being a "professional mass shooter," according to court papers released Tuesday ahead of jury selection for the men's trial.

Jacob Ryan McBain, 31, of Norco and Tarence Michael Thomas, 30, of Oregon City, Oregon, were arrested in 2018 following an investigation by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department and the Riverside Community College District Police Department.

McBain is charged with attempted murder, solicitation of murder, conspiracy, possession of an assault weapon and three counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Thomas is charged only with conspiracy.

Pretrial motions in the men's case began Monday and continued Tuesday, with additional evidentiary motions expected for the remainder of the week at the Riverside Hall of Justice. Jury selection is tentatively slated to get underway in the last week of April.

A trial brief filed by the prosecution and submitted to Superior Court Judge Mac Fisher detailed how the men chatted via Facebook messenger regarding their alleged plans to shoot people at the Norco campus, with most of the talking being done by McBain, who said "he wanted to become a professional mass shooter."

Thomas allegedly replied, "Definitely sounds entertaining," according to the brief.

The prosecution said both men were from the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area, but McBain had become homeless and moved to Norco to stay with a male friend, whose identity was not disclosed, living in a house in the 5000 block of Trail Street.

The friend owned multiple firearms, to which McBain had access, prosecutors allege.

A sheriff's investigation was initiated in February 2018 after McBain sent messages to a Santa Cruz woman, whose identity was not released, stating he wanted to kill "numerous people" and then wanted to be "killed by the police," court papers alleged.

The defendant was evidently inspired by the mass shooting at Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that month, according to prosecutors.

The woman contacted sheriff's investigators and supplied them with images of her FB messenger conversations with McBain, according to the brief.

The alleged homicidal statements were sufficient to procure a search warrant and serve it at the Norco home of the defendant's friend on Feb. 19, 2018.

The brief stated that the defendant was arrested without incident, and a search of the property uncovered a loaded AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, a loaded 9mm pistol and a loaded 40-caliber semiautomatic handgun. There were also multiple boxes of ammunition concealed in different places within the house, according to investigators.

Although the guns were the possessions of the property owner, McBain had boasted in his chat messages that he could use them, prosecutors alleged.

Further investigation of the defendant's social media activity led detectives to Thomas, with whom McBain had been communicating regularly and whose messages allegedly indicated that he was conspiring in the shooting spree, according to the brief. He was arrested in Oregon and extradited to California three weeks later.

Why McBain allegedly wanted to target Norco College was not established, other than it was in close proximity to where he was staying at the time.

Each defendant is being held in lieu of $1 million bail — McBain at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta, Thomas at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.

Court records show that McBain has prior convictions in another jurisdiction, but the offenses were not listed.

Thomas has no documented prior felony convictions.