Teen Said He Was `AntiChrist`

In some ways, the teen accused as the ringleader in an alleged killing rampage plot seemed to one of the boys arrested with him to have magical powers, a psychiatrist said Thursday.

Joel Glass, testifying as an expert witness in the third day of a hearing to decide whether the 15-year-old should be tried as an adult in the case, described how 18-year-old Matthew Lovett impressed the younger boy.

The 15-year-old, Lovett, and Christopher Olson, 14, were arrested July 6 carrying a cache of weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Authorities said the teens were planning to go on a killing spree in Oaklyn, the blue-collar Philadelphia suburb where the three lived.

The husky 15-year-old did not have many friends when he became close to Lovett earlier this year, Glass said. The boy both admired and feared the older teen, who tried to dissuade him from going to church and tried to teach him a different set of beliefs, including that Lovett was a powerful antichrist figure.

The 15-year-old's pastor and other witnesses a day earlier portrayed the boy as a regular churchgoer who was shy and nonviolent and liked to bowl with his family on Saturday nights.

But, Glass said, Lovett changed a lot of that.

"On one occasion, he did punch this big fellow and knocked him sprawling," Glass said. The incident helped convince the teen that Lovett had supernatural powers, Glass said.

Glass said Lovett also told the 15-year-old that he was invincible and offered as proof an anecdote about how Lovett's father punched him and fractured his hand while the younger Lovett was uninjured.

Olson pleaded guilty to a weapons offense on Wednesday. Lovett is being held on $1 million bail in the Camden County Jail on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, carjacking, aggravated assault and weapons charges.

The 15-year-old is being held at a juvenile facility on charges of murder conspiracy, carjacking and weapons offenses.

Glass said the 15-year-old went home to make his curfew on July 5 after spending the evening with the other teens eating pizza, watching movies and loading guns.

He sneaked out shortly afterward because he feared Lovett, Glass said.

In court and in interviews, people who have spoken with the two younger boys said the boys prevented Lovett from going through with a horrible crime.

The hearing on whether the teen would be moved to adult court was expected to continue at least into Friday.

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