Police say teen inspired by ISIS tried to bomb school
Alert student noticed smoking backpack at high school in Utah; William La Jeunesse reports from Los Angeles.
A teenager accused of bringing a bomb to his Utah high school and placing an ISIS flag at another school appeared at a preliminary hearing Friday, as prosecutors seek to have the 17-year-old face charges as an adult.
The young man, who has not been identified because of his age, is accused of trying to blow up Pine View High School in St. George in March and replacing an American flag with an ISIS flag at another high school in February.
Pine View was evacuated after a student spotted smoke coming from a backpack.
Prosecutor Angela Adams told FOX13 Salt Lake City why the teen should be tried as an adult.
“Mostly because of the risk to the community, protecting the community,” she said.
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The station reported that court documents show the teen told police that he wanted to see if he could get away with it.
"If I didn’t get caught from this, if people got hurt and I could get away from it? I would have laid low for a little while, kind of see what people’s reactions were, whether there were comments about it, etc," he told police, according to the court filing.
The documents also say he thought he’d lay low and then hang an ISIS flag on the school or freeway to make it look like ISIS was in Utah, according to the station.
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FBI Special Agent Michael Truebenbach testified he concluded that it was an "improvised incendiary device" recovered from the school, FOX13 reported.
The device, that police alleged was placed in a backpack, had a fuse leading into a metal can, with gasoline in plastic bottles to act as a fuel. There were also metal balls that Truebenbach testified that could have been used to cause more damage or kill.
Truebenbach later testified under cross-examination by the defense that the device did not properly detonate.
The hearing was adjourned to a later date that has not been set.
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