The Virginian-Pilot
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VIRGINIA BEACH
Three current and former Landstown High School students face up to life in prison after being charged with hatching a plan to bomb the school, officials said Friday.
A 16-year-old student and a 15-year-old former student were arrested Thursday in connection with the "implied threat," said Battalion Chief Tim Riley, a spokesman for the fire department. They've been charged with felonies and are being held in the Virginia Beach Juvenile Detention Center without bond.
The latest arrests were based on evidence found at the teens' homes, Riley said.
Two sawed-off shotguns and videos made by the teens were discovered, according to Commonwealth's Attorney Harvey Bryant. He declined to give details of the videos' content.
The two students are accused along with a 17-year-old Landstown senior who was arrested last week. He was charged with 10 counts of manufacturing and possessing an explosive device and one count of manufacturing an explosive device for use in a terrorist act.
Police found 28 explosives in the teen's home in the 2800 block of Saville Garden Way on April 6 after someone reported that he'd made threats against the school. He had a fascination with the April 20, 1999, Columbine High School shooting, Bryant said, and was put on probation two years ago for having a hoax explosive device near the massacre's anniversary.
Police and fire investigators searched the 16-year-old's home in the 1100 block of Spindle Crossing after he brought a razor blade to school last Tuesday, officials said. They confiscated a gun scope, memory cards, a notebook, video tapes, two computer towers and other evidence, according to the search warrant.
He initially was charged with having a concealed weapon. Now he faces charges of conspiracy, possession and use of a sawed-off shotgun and manufacture and/or possession of multiple explosive devices for use in a terrorist act.
The 15-year-old also has been charged with possessing and using a sawed-off shotgun and manufacturing and possessing explosive devices for use in a terrorist act.
The three teens' charges could carry sentences of up to life in prison, Bryant said. The prosecutor has filed a motion to charge the 17-year-old as an adult after an evaluation found him competent to stand trial, he said Friday. The student turns 18 this summer, he said.
"The seriousness of these offenses deem that he should be tried as an adult and face adult punishment," Bryant said.
He said he will decide how to try the other teens after studying the evidence and talking to investigators. The next hearing for the three teens is s et for April 28 in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, but the 17-year-old's likely will be continued, Bryant said.
The students' identities are not being released because they are juveniles.
Officials are confident they have the main suspects in the plot in custody, Riley said.
Landstown Principal Brian Baxter said he feels "more than safe" returning to school Monday morning, thanks to the police and fire departments, and looks forward to greeting staff and 65 bus loads of students.
"It's a big sigh of relief that these young people have been picked up and are dealing with the authorities," he said.
Still, police and school security officials are ramping up security at schools citywide Monday because of the threat and the Columbine anniversary. While students were on spring break this past week, police swept for bombs at the schools, a police spokeswoman said.
Baxter said the school community has rejected violence, attending classes in higher than average numbers the week before spring break.
"They want to get back to teaching and learning," he said. "We're going to get through this."
Anyone with information on these cases is encouraged to call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.
Pilot writer Lauren Roth contributed to this report.
Kathy Adams, (757) 222-5155, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com
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of their live he was a teenage boy. in other articles it talked about how he would kill birds with his bb gun. um hello werent some of you teen boys? even my dad admited that they shouldnt hold that against him becasue when my father (who is 52)when he was a kid would shoot birds all the itme. cut the situation a break. stop being ignorant.
I am a senior at landstown
hey i am a senior at landstown i would lovee to add that i knew the 17 year old kid i have gone to school with him since middle school. he was a strange kid and there are 2 reasons why you cant say "where are the parents" 1: he was a genius. seriously. he is the kind of kid that knew everything and how to do all of it. it did not come to a shock to me i hgonestly think he could of done this whole plan by himself. 2: i live at home with my parents and i can say that yes they keep tabs on where i am and who i am with but i am 17 years old and leaving for bootcamp soon so as long as they know who i am with then they let me have that freedom of doing as i please. because they TRUST me. my parents do not search my room unless they think something is suspicous because my family is not rich at all we are struggling to make ends meet and my mom and dad dont have time to search my room everyday. now i am not defending him for what he did i am just saying stop making excuses and blaming the parents. it is not just virginia beach that is bad its all of america. i personally do not think they should get the maximum sentence because they are TEENS. they will have to live with this for the rest
who's in charge?
It's interesting to read some of these comments and some I definately agree with, but I do have a questions. Who's in charge? Are parents in charge of their kids are were they just left to roam at will? My children are all grown, thank God, and raising children today is a lot different then when mine wre coming along. I will continue to say until my last breath that life's lessons begin at home. Parents MUST be proactive in their children's lives, and I'm sorry, but in today's parenting I don't feel that is happening. Sure some of you are great parents and have great kids, but sooo many parents today don't have a clue where their kids are or what they are doing.
If you are not incharge of you kids then you are asking for trouble, and no one can be blamed but you for molding their future. You are the adult, they are the child. Please keep that in mind.
ignore that guy
Forget about searching your own childs room and then coming back and apologizing, go search it and take responsibility and thank god you did something these parents didn't. When is this country going to realize that we're getting what we deserve here because of slack parenting and even slacker gun laws? Here we are post Virginia Tech shootings and any teenager can go to a gun show and either steal or out right buy without any questions any gun of their choice? A little googling and 30 mins work in the garage and now they have a fully automatic weapon with optional silencer and a few pipe bombs to boot.
What have we learned from Columbine
Research has determined that from the Moment of Commitment (the point when a student pulls their weapon) to the Moment of Completion (when the last round is fired) is only 5 seconds. If it is the intent of a school district to react to this violence, they will do so over the wounded and/or slain bodies of students, teachers and administrators.
Educational institutions clearly want safe and secure schools. Administrators are perennially queried by parents about the safety of their schools. The commonplace answers, intended to reassure anxious parents, focus on the school resource officers and emergency procedures. While useful, these less than adequate efforts do not begin to provide a definitive answer to preventing school violence, nor do they make a school safe and secure.
Traditionally school districts have relied upon the mental health community or local police to keep schools safe, yet one of the key shortcomings has been the lack of a system that involves teachers, administrators, parents and students in the identification and communication process. Recently, colleges, universities and community colleges are forming Behavioral Intervention Teams with representatives
Too Many Assumptions
I agree with a previous poster that a double standard exists in situations like these, based on both race AND socioeconomic status. We can blame the parents all day but in reality the justice system, the media--and even several posters here--are willing to go along with the whole "how do we know they're really guilty" or "I didn't know that people from that culture would do something like that." mentality. I'll bet good money that this incident is not the first time these young men have been in trouble with the law yet received nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Society needs to stop making assumptions about what people are capable of doing based on what they look like or how much money they have. Just ask Susan Boyle...
newt757
Please understand that I certainly did not mean to offend you in any way. I personally know several child psychologis in the Hampton Roads area that deal with problem children, and no it is not an easy fix, and the process can be very long if not indefinate.
I don't know if you child is still in therapy or not, but from what you said, it sounds as if he should be. I'm not trying to be negative, but therapy can be a workable solution, and the proper medication can also help.
I do understand your frustration. My family is not without problem children, and one has been in therapy for 18 years, and will be for the rest of his life.
God bless you, and I wish you the best.
Whoa!!!
For all of you social workers out there --- back up! The only thing that was said in the newspaper was that the items were "found" at the kids home. For all of you that would persecute the parents here ---- go search your childs room and see what surprises are in store for you! Then come back here and post an apology to those parents!
Prayers for the Parents
My heart, and my prayers, go out to the parents and familes of these kids. So many parents struggle with kids who are out of control despite the best efforts of the parents. Then when their kids finally erupt, they get lumped in with the parents who cause their kids' problems by poor or nonexistent parenting. My heart and prayers go out to those families, also.
I don't know the solution. I do know that it's important that all of us, as individuals, reach out in some way to people we encounter who are in trouble -- even if it's just a friendly hello, a few minutes of conversation, or help finding resources for someone who is too emotionally or mentally exhausted to know where to look.
16--17 year old kids
I think the parents should be in jail right next to them! There is no way they could have been that oblivious to what these kids were doing for the last few years, which would make them just as guilty.