Police: Text messages helped foil teens' school bomb plot

Columbine High Principal Frank DeAngelis sat down for an interview with this Utah teen on December 12, 2011, according to police.

DeAngelis told Vinnie Politan of CNN's sister network HLN that he gets requests "on a regular basis" from people working on student newspapers, term papers and documentaries who want to talk "about Columbine, school safety, things of that nature." He recalled that the 16-year-old identified himself as a sophomore and student newspaper editor from Utah, who was "in town (and) had some questions to ask me."

Describing the teen as "articulate," the principal -- who has been at Columbine for 33 years, the last 16 as a principal -- said there were no "red flags" in his line of questioning.

"He wasn't asking about, Can you show me where the bombs were? Can you show me where people died?" DeAngelis said Friday. "It was just, What are you doing? How do you help your kids? And things like that."

According to police documents, the 16-year-old later told authorities that he did not want to be compared to the Columbine killers because he was smart enough to kill more people.

"It's pretty scary what could have happened," Joe Parrera, whose daughter goes to Roy High School, told HLN's Politan. "It's a big shock to everyone, just to see someone plan something like this."