Andrew Osantowski Released on Parole after Six Years

CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WJBK) - A Macomb County man is spending his first night home from prison after serving time for plotting a deadly massacre at his high school. The prosecutor wanted him to stay behind bars, but the state Supreme Court disagreed.

FOX 2 cameras captured Andrew Osantowski arriving home for the first time since he was locked up back in 2004 at the age of 17. Inside his Clinton Township home, police found an arsenal of knives, assault weapons and pipe bombs, along with Nazi materials. Police say he was plotting a deadly massacre at Chippewa Valley High School.

"Horrified is the word, horrified," that is how his mother, Janice Osantowski, reacted six years ago. Thursday, she told FOX 2's Robin Schwartz she is just glad to have her now 23-year-old son home. She also says right now the family has no further comment about his release on parole.

Prosecutors fought hard to keep Osantowski behind bars. He served six years of a two to 20 year sentence on terrorism charges.

"I think he should still be in jail. That's just my personal opinion. I don't think he belongs out. I mean, he could just plan it again. Instead of blowing up the school, he'll blow something else up. I don't think he should be out," one man told FOX 2 News.

Disturbing images showing Osantowski with an AK-47 and a shotgun and the things he wrote in an online journal about being on the brink of mass murder led Prosecutor Eric Smith to the same conclusion. Smith tried to block Osantowski's release, but the Michigan Supreme Court overturned two lower court rulings granting him parole.

Smith declined to talk on camera, but he told FOX 2 by phone the Supreme Court has spoken and all he can do now is hope Osantowski will become a productive member of society.

"He was a young kid," a woman told FOX 2 News. "I would hope he would learn his lesson."

Osantowski will remain on parole for the next two years. If he fails to comply with any of the regulations, he'll go right back to prison.