[ Good to know we're fighting terrorism abroad! Yay for Iraq and their
new schools! ]
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Central/03/18/school.scare.ap/index.html
Teen found with 20 bombs at school
Charged with attempted murder
MALCOLM, Nebraska (AP) -- A teenager was charged with attempted murder
after police found him outside his school with 20 homemade bombs, a
rifle and a note saying he wanted to injure everyone at his high school
except for three friends.
Authorities believe they averted what could have been the worst school
shooting since the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School.
Josh Magee, 17, was arrested Tuesday in the parking lot of Malcolm High
School after a staff member saw him swigging liquor from a flask and
putting on a black overcoat.
Police who searched Magee's car found a bolt-action rifle, several
rounds of ammunition, small bottles of propane and rigged containers of
a petroleum-based propellant.
"It had the potential of going badly," said Superintendent Gene
Modernize. "With this student, at this school, on this particular day,
we were successful. We got lucky."
Parents and school officials in this tiny town north of Lincoln said
Magee often spoke about Columbine, where Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold
killed 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves.
"He asked them in class last week if they knew who Eric Harris and Dylan
Klebold were," said Julia Lostrah, whose daughter is Magee's classmate.
"Then he said, `I know them."'
Second school incident within a week
The arrest came in the same week that authorities in another rural town
in the heartland avoided a potentially violent school encounter.
Two second-grade boys and an 11-year-old schoolmate were arrested
Wednesday in Forsyth, Montana, on charges that they buried a loaded
handgun in a playground sandbox and plotted to shoot and stab a
third-grade girl during recess. Authorities said the boys intended to
harm the young girl because she had teased two of them.
No one answered the door Thursday at Magee's red-brick home just down
the road from the school in Malcolm, a town so small that its downtown
streets are unpaved.
School and law enforcement officials said his mother works as a chef in
Lincoln, and his father is serving in Afghanistan in the military.
Magee, who has attended Malcolm schools since kindergarten, was always
been on the district's radar, Neddenriep said.
"All the way through, he was just a little different," he said. "He
liked to be alone, he didn't take part in many things. His enjoyment was
weapons."
The superintendent said he wasn't aware of reports that Magee was a
target of bullies. "There were never any incidents reported," he said.
When students began reporting to faculty that Magee bragged of making
and testing explosives at home, Neddenriep said, the school paid close
attention to the teen.
Magee then began showing some interest in school activities, he said.
Lostrah, who is also the school district's administrative assistant,
said Magee joined the cross-country team and was an impressive musician.
"He was very talented," she said.
Magee was being held in a juvenile jail, but he was charged as an adult
with attempted first-degree murder.
Neddenriep said the school of about 450 students will refine its safety
policies in the wake of Magee's arrest.
"There's one thing I did learn," Neddenriep said. "It can happen anywhere."
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Central/03/18/school.scare.ap/index.html
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