Police say teen may have planned attack
PHILADELPHIA — A home-schooled teenager who felt bullied amassed a cache of weapons and tried to recruit another boy for a possible school attack, authorities said Thursday.
The 14-year-old was taken into custody after police searched his bedroom in the Philadelphia suburbs on Wednesday evening. He had talked about mounting a Columbine-type attack at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School, authorities said.
The boy's mother has been charged with buying him weapons, the Associated Press reported today.
The weapons included a 9mm semiautomatic assault rifle that the teenager's mother had recently bought for him, Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. said. Prosecutors are reviewing her actions.
Police also found about 30 air-powered guns, seven homemade explosive devices, plus swords, knives, a bomb-making book, videos of the 1999 Columbine attack in Colorado and violence-filled notebooks, Castor said. The weapons were plainly visible in the boy's bedroom, Castor said.
The search did not turn up any ammunition for the most dangerous firearm, the assault rifle. Authorities said one of the explosive devices was operable and the others were still being assembled. Castor said the devices, which he described as grenades, were plastic containers filled with BBs to which gunpowder could be added.
"I do not think an attack was imminent and I am not certain that an attack was going to occur at all," Castor said at a news conference. "It could have simply been big talking by a kid who thought that he was bullied previously and he was going to exact his revenge."
The teen previously attended middle school in the district but had been taught at home since March 2006 after voluntarily leaving school, Castor said.
Plymouth Township police searched the home after getting a tip Wednesday from a high school student and his father.
The teen was charged as a juvenile with solicitation to commit terror and other counts and was being held at a youth facility. A call to the county Public Defender's Office, which was representing the youth, rang unanswered after business hours.
The boy was due in court for an initial appearance on Friday morning.
Castor declined to name the suspect's parents and said he did not think they had retained lawyers.
The arrest came the same day a 14-year-old in Cleveland opened fire at his high school, wounding four before killing himself.
Classes were held as usual Thursday at the Pennsylvania high school.
