A Cape Cod teen who prosecutors say was planning a shooting at a Falmouth school was released on $2,500 cash bail on Wednesday, according to court records.
Falmouth resident Ian Fotheringham, 18, pleaded not guilty to one count of threatening to use a deadly weapon in a public building during his arraignment in Barnstable District Court on Friday, court records show. He was arrested the day prior and then held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing on Tuesday.
What’s happened in court so far
During Fotheringham’s dangerousness hearing, Judge Kristen Stone ordered him held on $2,500 cash bail with conditions of release, according to court records. These conditions included that he remain on house arrest, not possess any weapons, wear a GPS location monitor and undergo mental health treatment.
On Wednesday, one of Fotheringham’s family members posted bail, and he was released, court records show.
A group of Falmouth mothers attended the hearing, hoping to hear the judge rule against granting Fotheringham bail, WBZ-TV reported. But because the charge against the teen doesn’t fall under Massachusetts’ dangerousness statute, Stone said she felt compelled to allow him the chance of release on bail.
“While the family can understand the concern of the public, the allegations against my client (are) based on speculation and conjecture,” Fotheringham’s attorney, Krysten Condon, said in a statement to WBZ-TV. “The family has done everything they can to help this young man and will continue to do so. The public should not be concerned. I trust that he will be found not guilty at trial.”
Falmouth’s superintendent said Tuesday night that police will provide detail officers at all four of the town’s elementary schools — in addition to school resource officers — for “at least the next two weeks,” WBZ-TV reported.
During Fotheringham’s arraignment, the judge ordered that a doctor evaluate whether he is competent to stand trial, according to court records. On Tuesday, a doctor testified during the hearing that they did not have any concerns about Fotheringham’s competency to stand trial, and the court adopted this opinion at the behest of both the prosecution and defense.
Condon told WBZ-TV that Fotheringham has mental health issues, as well as a fatal disorder called Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
The allegations against Fotheringham
Falmouth police began investigating Fotheringham in August after being informed that he had indicated a desire to “shoot up a school” and was refurbishing guns in his bedroom, the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office said previously. With Fotheringham’s consent, Falmouth police searched his home, but did not find any illegal firearms.
Then, in early September, Falmouth School District safety monitors reported a suspicious male walking in the woods behind a school to Falmouth police, the district attorney’s office said. The school was Teaticket Elementary School, and the incident happened Sept. 3, WBZ-TV reported.
“Based on their interaction with the male, school safety monitors were very concerned that this male was ‘casing’ the school,” the district attorney’s office wrote.
Falmouth police soon identified the male as Fotheringham, the district attorney’s office said. Condon disputes that the description of the suspicious male matches her client, WBZ-TV reported.
Investigators soon discovered photos of the deadly Columbine High School shooting from 1999 on Fotheringham’s phone, the district attorney’s office said. Falmouth police then searched his home a second time and found a large 3D printer capable of producing a firearm.
Police reports indicate that Fotheringham previously exhibited concerning, sometimes violent, behavior late last year, The Cape Cod Times reported. In August 2024, staff at an inpatient program he was attending told police he’d indicated he was a “member of a white supremacy group and wanted to shave his head and get a trench coat and long black boots to ‘play the part.’”
Then, in October 2024, staff at other inpatient programs told police that Fotheringham had made direct threats against a staff member, sent a video of a shooting to his friend and made references to killing people and animals, the newspaper reported.
Fotheringham is due back in court on Oct. 6.