Exchange Student To Be Deported After Threatening Delco School

UPPER DARBY, PA – The Taiwanese foreign exchange student accused of threatening to shoot up his Delaware County High School has pleaded guilty to making threats and will subsequently be deported, according to court records.

An-Tso Sun, 18, of Taiwan but a current Lansdowne resident, pleaded guilty to making terroristic threats with the intent to terrorize others on Monday, June 4 in a Delaware County court, court papers show.

Judge Barry C. Dozor ordered Sun to serve four to 23 months in prison. However, Dozor ordered Sun be immediately paroled to federal officials so he could be deported.

In late March, Upper Darby Police said Sun told a fellow student he was planning to shoot up the school on May 1, but Sun later said he was joking. However, police said Sun also asked that same student how to buy a gun and that Sun had looked up information about weapons such as AK-47 and AR-15 rifles on a school-issued iPad.

The student told school officials who told police about the threat, prompting Sun's arrest and a search at his host family's home.

That search turned up numerous items that police say showed a clear intent to shoot up the school. Police 20 9mm ammo rounds, a crossbow with arrows, a military vest, a strangling tool, a loading device for AR15s and AK47s, a black ski mask, a backpack with ammo pouches, and more.

Sun's attorney claimed some of those items were part of a Halloween costume, but Chitwood said the costume is completely separate from what police recovered.

"There is no doubt in our mind he was planning something," Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said. "When you look at the totality of the equipment... I think we prevented a major tragedy from happening."

He called Sun's ability to buy that much ammunition while not being a United States citizen and only residing in the states since August "mind boggling."

Image via Upper Darby Police