A Columbia County teenager who admitted inventing a violent plot targeting Kelso’s Three Rivers Mall is not heading to lockup. Instead, Beau Michael Carr was placed on probation Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to two counts of disorderly conduct and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm, and admitted making a false threat of a catastrophe or emergency. The sentence comes with a long list of rules aimed at cutting off his access to weapons, the internet and busy shopping centers.
Judge Places Teen Under Strict Supervision
Circuit Judge Nickolas Brajcich ordered probation on the first-degree disorderly conduct charge and told Carr he must stay at his parents’ home unless he is with an approved adult, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive. The order bans him from using the internet without supervision and from having unsupervised access to car keys, requires that no weapons be kept in the home, and forbids him from coming within 500 feet of any mall, including Three Rivers Mall. The Columbia County juvenile department will decide how long the probation lasts.
FBI Says Plot Appeared Detailed And Imminent
Federal investigators said the plan laid out a map of the mall, a shooter’s route and a scheme to set off an improvised “chlorine bomb” to spark panic before opening fire in a movie theater, according to the FBI Portland Field Office. The agency said tips started coming in during mid-May 2025, and deputies arrested Carr on May 22, 2025, after court-approved surveillance and a search warrant. “This plot was as serious as it gets,” FBI Portland Special Agent in Charge Doug Olson said in the release.
Defense Points To Bullying, Rehabilitation Steps
Defense attorney Chris Heywood told the court that Carr had been bullied and harassed after moving to Clatskanie in fall 2024 and that a polygraph last August indicated he never intended to follow through on the attack, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Since his release, Heywood said, Carr has been meeting with anti-hate activist Randy Blazak and has visited a rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel as part of rehabilitation efforts. Heywood argued those steps, along with the judge’s finding that prosecutors had not shown a substantial step toward carrying out the plan, supported a probationary outcome instead of harsher penalties.
What Comes Next
With the plea and probation in place, the juvenile court will supervise Carr under the strict conditions while the county juvenile department sets how long that supervision will last. The FBI urged parents to keep an eye on their children’s online activity and to report suspicious behavior to law enforcement as part of broader efforts to stop similar plots before they take shape, the agency said. Local officials say the case underscores how hard it is to police violent intent that starts in private online chats, while still steering juveniles toward rehabilitation rather than simply incarceration.
