Three junior high school students charged with plotting an armed attack on a school tried to recruit others and threatened those who refused to join, police said.

One teen had stick-figure drawings depicting a grisly scene with people being shot, and he said that the students were intent on "redoing Columbine" at Preston Junior High School on April 24 or 25, according to police documents.

Two 14-year-olds were arrested Wednesday in connection with the plot. A 15-year-old was already in custody. All three are ninth-graders.

Psychologists and experts said teen-age egos may play a part in the Columbine-like plots. Three teen-age boys in Hoyt, Kan., were charged this week with conspiracy to commit aggravated arson at their high school in a plan authorities say was styled after Columbine.

"Boys in particular often try and outdo each other. This may be what we're looking at with Columbine and its aftermath," said Jeff Dolgan, head of the psychology department at Children's Hospital in Denver.

Two students fatally shot a teacher and 12 students and wounded 23 others before killing themselves in the April 20, 1999, attack at Columbine High School in Littleton.

In the Fort Collins case, Meininger allegedly called students who refused to join the plan to tell them they were targets.

"He ... told them that they were now part of the plan and would be the first ones killed when Alex and Scott completed their plan," according to a police affidavit.

Police said that the three also had a detailed plan for their attack.

"The basic plan was to have one person on the stairs in the north hallway at Preston Junior High and two on the ground near the exits to prohibit the escape of the victims," the affidavit reads. "They would shoot propane tanks in the hallway to kill those not already dead, then take ten 7th graders hostage in the counseling office and execute them and then the gunmen would kill themselves."

A lawyer for one of the boys, Erik Fischer, said that the boys never intended to carry out the plan. He said police are "boasting" in the affidavit, and disputed police assertions that the boys had written plans.

"My client does not deny making the statements," Fischer said. "But he has always denied that he intended to carry them out. And I think that's the real question here."

Larimer County law enforcement officials said that the boys' threats and one suspect's access to guns on his stepfather's ranch constitute a crime.

"They had the plans and they had the means to implement the plans," said Rita Davis, spokeswoman for the Fort Collins Police Department. "If you go out and tell people, `I'm going to shoot people,' and you have the means to do it, then you're looking at the possibility" of a conspiracy charge.

Fischer said that his client was "extremely remorseful."

Two of the teens were charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, among other charges. Fischer said he is trying to work out a plea agreement that would include probation and allow his client to attend counseling.

The 15-year-old was charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree assault. He is expected to plead guilty in a Feb. 26 court hearing.

All three suspects will be tried as juveniles. The Poudre Valley School District expelled the boys Thursday.

Dolgan of Children's Hospital in Denver said research has shown a connection between school violence and workplace violence. He said in both cases, the perpetrators had several things in common, including social rejection and the feeling they weren't given justice.

Vincent Schiraldi, president of the Justice Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., said that he is concerned that schools are using their limited budgets for more security instead of more counselors for children.

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• February 8, 2001: Teens Charged In 'Columbine-Style' Attack Conspiracy