Former Marysville-Pilchuck substitute teacher says she warned school of shooting



MARYSVILLE, Wash. -- In the newly released report on the Marysville-Pilchuck shooting, one of the most startling details concerns a substitute teacher who claims she warned school officials about a shooting at least a day before it happened.

Rosemarie Cooper's account is detailed in this lengthy report.

Cooper said he was subbing in a literature class, when a student came up to warn her of a possible shooting that would take place in the school's cafeteria on Friday.

"He came up to me and said, Mrs. Cooper, I know there is going to be a shooting tomorrow and I said, what?" Cooper told Q13 FOX News Tuesday night.

"And he said you may have heard about it ... the kids are using their cell phones ... it's coming up. And he said that somebody by the name of Fryberg was going to bring a gun to school and there would be a shooting in the cafeteria at 10 o’clock" Friday.

This is the warning Cooper says she relayed to office staff after school a day before 15-year old Jaylen Fryberg opened fire, killing four of his friends before turning the gun on himself on Oct. 24, 2014.

Still too shaken to show her face, Cooper told Q13 FOX News that she even left notes for the teacher she was subbing for, that a student mentioned a possible shooting.

Days after it happened, she says investigators approached her for her testimony, but then began to question whether she ever warned anyone.

"When I talked to the policeman, he said, no, it didn't happen. They didn't have any notes. He said, 'You are a liar.'"

In the report, investigators say Cooper, in a second interview, stepped back from her initial statement and told a State Patrol detective her warning "probably didn't happen." But Cooper says she only said that to appease police who didn't seem to believe her in the first place.

Cooper was asked if she essentially told them what you thought they wanted to hear.

"Mmm, I did. Because at that point they wouldn't let me go, they were still screaming at me. I just wanted it to stop."

The State Patrol said Tuesday night it is looking into Cooper's claims that its detective badgered her, screamed at her or called her a liar.