PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Three New Jersey teen-agers, who apparently dressed like characters from the Matrix movies, faced criminal charges on Monday for plotting a shooting spree that police foiled at the last minute, authorities say.

Matthew Lovett, 18, and two unnamed accomplices aged 14 and 15, were armed with rifles, swords, knives and 2,000 rounds of ammunition when they surrendered to police in Oaklyn, New Jersey -- a suburb less than 10 miles (16 km) from Philadelphia -- after an attempted weekend carjacking, police said.

The trio were allegedly planning to target three middle school students from Oaklyn and then carry out random attacks on as many people as possible.


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Thank god it was caught in time, or we would be reading about what they would have done.....another sad story....what goes through these kids minds??!!

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Matthew Lovett, 18, and two unnamed accomplices aged 14 and 15, were armed with rifles, swords, knives and 2,000 rounds of ammunition when they surrendered to police in Oaklyn,

That is a lot of ammo. I'm glad that they were caught before the worst happened. I'm with Lillian in 'what are these kids thinking'? Next thing you know the parents will be suing the makers of "The Matrix"....

Holy Cr*p!!! I heard about this.......utter madness

Starlyte-you are correct of course...

thats too crazy. and yes im glad too they caught them.

that is a lot of ammo. where could they get to much at that age. and the money as well.

these are the type of peeps that give matrix and those type of movies bad reps.

Starlyte that's the kind of action that is so typical of people nowdays. Why can't people take responsibility for their actions anymore? Hypothetically, if the parents did sue the makers of that movie, what would it achieve? 1.) It would prevent future fictional movies with certain content from being made and 2.) It would make some lawyers richer.

I don't like the idea of having even more restrictions placed on the content of media that I want to watch. There was obviously something wrong in the head with these guys to begin with. Stuff 'em - let them rot in jail or something..anything just keep them off the streets, but they need to be aware that what they did was wrong and that they are ultimately responsible for their own actions.

Thankfully they surrendered.

If these kids had had proper role models this may have been avoided.....You can blame hollywood but first ask where's the parents?

i think the Matrix movie people should sue the press for calling these guys "matrix" anything. 1) they did not commit any crime other than the appearance of about to commit a crime(other than failing a carjacking) 2) there is no evidence they were in any way affiliating themselves with the matrix, rather some cop said they were "all matrixed up".

if these guys were really dangerous, would they have failed in car jacking? i think they were a little off their rocker, but not murderers. if they were truly out to kill, wouldn't they have started with the carjacking?

i just have a problem with the state accusing people of crimes they did not ACTUALLY commit. that implies that we know a criminal's intentions, when clearly we cannot. charge them with possession of firearms and attempted carjacking, but its just plain wrong to accuse them of ATTEMPTED MURDER before they even attempted anything. if that is the precedent, then we can all be accused of things based on our appearance alone and not the crime we actually commit.

(sorry, ive read several articles on this already... this one did not mention the attempted murder charges but other ones do)

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Starlyte that's the kind of action that is so typical of people nowdays. Why can't people take responsibility for their actions anymore? Hypothetically, if the parents did sue the makers of that movie, what would it achieve? 1.) It would prevent future fictional movies with certain content from being made and 2.) It would make some lawyers richer.

You are so right Sageghost. This is my whole problem with those who blame media, music, and movies for their children's actions. On the extreme side, yeah, maybe they got the idea from such a place, but deeper than where that idea came from is a place where there is something very wrong with that person. I got into a huge argument at work with a man who is about 40 years older than myself and from the old school. My boss was considering buying her daughter a particular cd for Christmas, but their was a lot of foul language on the cd. My response was that she shouldn't worry so much about stuff like that. His response was she shouldn't let her daughter listen to such music. If a child is raised right and taught the difference between right and wrong there is nothing to worry about for the most part. If a parent takes an active role and pays attention to their child, situations like this could be avoided. I grew up listening to 60's and 70's rock was a teenager in the late 80's early 90's and have music tastes that range from the heaviest metal to the most beautiful classical pieces of our time. I purposely used to listen to rap when I was younger because they cussed, but in no way shape or form has the movies I've watched or the music I listen to affected me to the point where the line between what's real and what's fantasy has been blurred. Come on people! Lighten up a little bit! Parents, learn to take some of the blame. Kids, they are just movies and just lyrics, not real life situations. As always, this is just my own opinion. Thanks for listening.

No worries!