Paper: Houston Chronicle
Date: SUN 04/25/99
Section: A
Page: 1
Edition: 4 STAR
Reverberations from rampage still being felt / Alleged school bomb plot uncovered in Hill Country
By JAMIE STOCKWELL
Staff
WIMBERLEY - Gunpowder, crude explosive devices and Internet instructions on how to make bombs were found in the homes of three 14-year-old boys who investigators believe were planning an attack on their junior high school , authorities said Saturday.
Five eighth-grade boys were taken into custody Friday afternoon in this picturesque Hill Country tourist town. Only four remained in the Hays County juvenile detention center in nearby San Marcos Saturday. The location of the fifth boy was not revealed. The four boys in custody "gave a written statement to the investigators," said Hays County Sheriff Don Montague at a news conference in San Marcos on Saturday afternoon. "Based on the statements given, it is clear that these young men were serious about targeting fellow students and teachers."
The four in custody are charged with conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit arson and conspiracy to manufacture explosives, he said. They will be detained until at least Monday, when a judge will decide whether they should be released.
Montague said it is still too early to determine whether the boys were members of a clique or hate group at Wimberley Junior High or if their targets were of a particular race or campus group, but Wimberley schools Superintendent David Simmons said the boys are "regular-looking kids."
Simmons said all five boys will face an expulsion hearing this week. The youths will also be formally charged in juvenile court on Monday.
Authorities would not say whether the boys, whose names were withheld because of their age, had been in trouble before their arrest on Friday. Montague said only three of the homes were searched Friday night because that's all authorities had probable cause to check. In addition to the explosive devices and gunpowder, authorities also confiscated computer disks, he said.
Authorities learned about the alleged plot, which is believed to have been conceived as early as January, after students who had overheard discussions last week contacted school officials. The deadly attack on a Littleton, Colo., school on Tuesday apparently made the overheard comments more serious and frightening than they might have been otherwise, officials said.
Investigators took the allegations seriously and combed the campus late Friday. The sheriff said they were unable to find anything unusual.
At the ranch-style white stone schoolhouse Saturday, a Little League baseball team prepared for its afternoon game amid the commotion and fear the alleged plot stirred in the community of 3 ,000.
With a welcome sign at the town's outskirts reading, "A little piece of heaven," Wimberley is a popular spot on the Blanco River for tourists and retirees. Like Littleton, it is a fairly homogenous community. More than 90 percent of the 450 students at the junior high are white.
Parents of some of those children were both stunned and worried after Friday's developments.
"With this sort of thing, I don't know if my child is safe," said Leora Strong, who has a child in school there.
Strong said she worries that there is not enough security in the Wimberley schools.
"I think more needs to be done," she said.
Currently, Wimberley schools are equipped with an alarm system. Simmons said a sheriff's substation is also located a few blocks from the campus.
School officials will meet with concerned parents over the next couple of days but have no plans to increase security on campus, Simmons said.
Montague said no information has been found as to when the boys were planning to attack the school . But he urged parents to not be afraid of sending their children back to school .
"I can't sit here and say it's totally safe but we've taken every measure we can. We've searched the school ," he said.
Hays County Assistant District Attorney Patrick Keaveny said there is a possibility the boys will be tried as adults. He also said federal charges may be filed. Agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were aiding in the investigation.
Keaveny said the boys seemed sincere and gave full statements Friday evening.
"The parents were surprised, shocked, and very concerned for their children and the children of the community," he said.
Kim White, whose twin sons are seventh-graders at the junior high, said she came to the sheriff's office to find out what was going on after her children's classmates called her sons late Friday night.
"Their reaction was total fear," she said of her sons. "At a campus that small, if they didn't know them (the five), they knew of them. So we just wanted to know the facts."
Simmons said Friday's incident is a clear message that even small towns cannot escape such potential violence.
"None of us are exempt or immune from unfortunate incidents of this type and the best we can do is prepare accordingly," he said.
There is no indication that the boys were nearing their target date, but Montague said the recent massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado that left 15 dead may have heightened their curiosity and determination.
"There would have been people hurt. There could have been people killed," if the boys had been able to carry out their alleged plans, he said. He said the investigation will continue and other students could be implicated.
My God, what next?
PB |
