DeLAND, Fla. -- Three DeLand Middle School students plotted to shoot and kill as many classmates as they could before killing themselves, according to Volusia County sheriff's investigators.

---

LETTER: School Message To Parents
MAPS: Location Of School

---

Volusia County Sheriff's investigators have filed felony complaint affidavits with the State Attorney's Office, charging all three with conspiracy to commit murder.

Deputies identified the three as Austin Mohr, 13, Tyler Christian, 13, and Charlene Russell, 13, Local 6 confirmed Friday night.

The three were removed from school when the plot was uncovered, deputies said.

According to witness statements, at least one of the three had been trying to get a gun but failed, deputies said. Investigators found no evidence that the three had access to weapons or the means to carry out an attack.

Authorities first learned of the plot last week, after receiving reports of disturbing threats being made in instant messages a boy wrote to another teen who had contacted him through his MySpace page, deputies said.

The boy posed as a 19-year-old on his page, which features satanic references, a picture of a tombstone and other disturbing images and admiration for the two shooters responsible for the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School, deputies said.

In the instant messages, the boy directed his rage at two students in particular, but also made general threats to lock the cafeteria doors during one of the lunch periods and shoot everyone in sight, according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

"Everyone will pay for what they did to me," wrote the boy, who claimed he was being teased and picked on at school. "They will all die along with me."

The boy also sent instant messages to another teen stating, "I will kill every person I see. ….The massacre will happen soon."

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office was contacted about the messages at about 10:15 p.m. on March 5.

The boy who made the postings was tracked down at his Orange City home at about 1 a.m. on March 6. He was taken into custody for a mental-health evaluation.

The boy told deputies that he wrote the messages to scare people, deputies said.

Another witness told investigators that the boy had recently asked him if he could get a gun, deputies said.

The other two involved in the plot were also taken for mental-health evaluations, deputies said.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.