Holly Zachariah The Columbus Dispatch @hollyzachariah

URBANA - A Champaign County juvenile-court judge set bond for the first time today for the student accused of the Jan. 20 shooting at West Liberty-Salem High School.

Judge Lori L. Reisinger set 17-year-old Eli Serna's bond at $1 million, as she weighs now whether the case against Serna qualifies for an automatic transfer to adult court.

She said that if Serna, who is currently in custody in juvenile detention, is released he must wear a GPS ankle monitor and be with a responsible adult 24 hours a day.

She also ordered that he have no contact with any of the named victims in the case, or any student or teacher in the school district.

Serna faces 13 charges in connection with the shooting, the most serious among them two counts of attempted murder and three counts of felonious assault.

Authorities say he sneaked his own disassembled 12-gauge, pump-action Mossberg shotgun into the school in his backpack that morning and then reassembled it in a bathroom stall.

He then put on a homemade mask and left the stall as the first bell rang and the hallways had presumably emptied, only to be surprised when Logan Cole, who was a 16-year-old junior then, entered the bathroom.

Serna shot Cole twice, once in the back and once in the chest. He then fired the gun into the hallway and into two classrooms, before retreating back into the bathroom and surrendering to two administrators.

Cole was critically injured, but finished his school year on the honor roll and is recovering.

A second student, Adam Schultz, was hit by a scattering shot pellet.

Todays court hearing was expected to be to determine what is known as "probable cause" - that the events happened and that Serna committed them. That step is one of many required in juvenile court.

But the hearing never happened. Both prosecutors and the defense attorney waived their rights to it.

That's because in May, the Ohio Supreme Court apparently reversed it own decision that certain cases such as Serna's could not be automatically transferred from juvenile court to adult court.

In reaction to that, Champaign County Prosecutor Kevin Talebi renewed a request for the move to Common Pleas Court. The judge said she rule in writing and indicated she would do that soon.

Talebi objected to the request for bond in the meantime, but was overruled.

"The state has great concern for the safety of the community," Talebi said in court.

He and defense attorney Dennis Lieberman also both referenced "numerous" mental health conditions or concerns with Serna.

Reisinger said that if Serna's family posts bond, he must live with his mother and stepfather and there can be no guns in the home.

If the judge eventually decides to keep the case in juvenile court, Serna has been charged under a "serious youthful offender" designation. That means he could eventually be subject to adult penalties if he breaks the rules in juvenile detention.

hzachariah@dispatch.com

@ollyachariah

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Bond set at $1 million for student accused in West Liberty school shooting - The Columbus Dispatch