Southern Utah student accused of bringing bomb to school charged with attempted murder, use of WMD

Corrections & clarifications: The juvenile defendant may be tried as an adult if the judge approves the prosecution's recommendation. A previous version of this article cited a Utah State Court representative who stated otherwise.

The 16-year-old Hurricane boy accused of bringing a homemade bomb to a Southern Utah high school reportedly told detectives he "would have been fine with it" if his bomb had detonated and killed or injured his classmates, according to court documents.

"If someone got hurt, I probably wouldn't care," the teen told St. George police detectives, according to an information document filed by the Washington County Attorney's Office.

The teen was charged Monday with attempted murder and use of a weapon of mass destruction, both first-degree felonies. He was also charged with two misdemeanors, graffiti and abuse of a flag, in connection with allegations that he vandalized Hurricane High School in February.

Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap told The Spectrum & Daily News on Tuesday the teenager may be tried as an adult under the Serious Youth Offender Act. The judge will determine whether or not the youth will be tried in adult court, he said.

In addition, the nature of the charges are severe enough that his court proceedings will be open to the public regardless of his juvenile status.

The teen will appear in 5th District Court in St. George on Wednesday afternoon for a detention hearing.

Minute-by-minute account

According to the information filed in court, video surveillance footage of Pine View High School shows the teen entering the school with two backpacks around 11:08 a.m. March 5. One of the backpacks contained a homemade IED, authorities said.

Officials detailed how the morning unfolded:

11:39 a.m. — The suspect places the backpack containing a homemade IED in the cafeteria at Pine View High School.

— The suspect places the backpack containing a homemade IED in the cafeteria at Pine View High School. 11:42 a.m. — The teen opens the backpack, lights the fuse and walks away from it.

— The teen opens the backpack, lights the fuse and walks away from it. 11:45 a.m. — One of the several students who notice the backpack that is smoking reports it to a teacher. The teacher reports the backpack to the principal, and the principal informs the school resource officer.

— One of the several students who notice the backpack that is smoking reports it to a teacher. The teacher reports the backpack to the principal, and the principal informs the school resource officer. 11:48 a.m . — The school resource officer and principal approach the backpack, which has stopped smoking, and remove the backpack from the cafeteria.

. — The school resource officer and principal approach the backpack, which has stopped smoking, and remove the backpack from the cafeteria. 11:59 a.m. — An explosive device is located inside the backpack. The school resource officer notifies his supervisor and a member of the Washington County Bomb Squad.

— An explosive device is located inside the backpack. The school resource officer notifies his supervisor and a member of the Washington County Bomb Squad. 12:18 p.m. — Students are evacuated onto the football field.

— Students are evacuated onto the football field. In the hours that followed — Officials from the St. George Police Department, Washington County Sheriff’s Department, Washington County School District, members of the FBI, and bomb-detecting K-9 Jax search the school grounds, vehicles, and surrounding area and conclude there are no additional exploding devices on or nearby campus.

When the Washington County Bomb Squad responded to Pine View High, they examined the IED and determined it was made with a metal soup can filled with shot gun shells containing BB pellets.

Also inside the backpack were canning lids, an improved fuse, black gun powder, an empty box of matches, three water bottles filled with gasoline, and more, the document indicates.

The charging document says approximately 75 to 150 students were in the cafeteria when the teen allegedly placed the backpack containing the IED near one of three vending machines in the area.

'I don't really see death as bad'

After the teenager was taken to the police department for an interview, the document says, he admitted to placing the backpack in the cafeteria and described — in detail — how he manufactured the IED.

One of the St. George police detectives interviewing the boy asked, "Let's say that thing goes off and classmates would have gotten killed or seriously injured, what do you think about that?"

"I would have been fine with it," the teen responded, according to the document.

He then told detectives: "The way life is going; it's not going well. There's a bunch of bad people; I don't like the way the world is going. I just wanted to do something to make it different."

The detective then asked him what his classmates have done to him.

"Probably nothing," the student responded, according to the document. "I don't really see death as bad; it's a new kind of way of life."

The document indicates detectives later asked him what he would have done after the bomb exploded, had it detonated.

The teen responded: "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. Then later on try to hang an ISIS flag somewhere like on a school or maybe on the freeway, make it look like ISIS is here."

ISIS flag at Hurricane High School

According to the document, the teen told investigators he would have then tried to contact ISIS but he doesn't know how to do so and "needs to do more research on it."

The document also indicates the teen admitted to removing the American flag from the flagpole at Hurricane High School on Feb. 15 and replacing it with an ISIS flag he created himself.

He also admitted to spray-painting "ISIS is comi—" on the east side wall of Hurricane High's vocational building, the record says.

When St. George police executed a search warrant on the teen's residence, they found several items connecting him to both the backpack bomb and ISIS vandalism incidents, including black fabric similar to the ISIS flag found at Hurricane High, three USB storage devices, BBs from a BB gun, 12-gauge shotgun shells, four white solo cups with black residue inside that investigators believe is gunpowder, black felt masks and eight 20-gauge shotgun shell wads, the document says.

Washington County School District officials say the teenager was enrolled in two classes of Junior Reserve Officer's Training Corps at Pine View High, as well as classes at Hurricane High School.

Follow reporter Emily Havens on Twitter, @EmilyJHavens, and find her on Facebook at facebook.com/emilyjhavens. Call her at 435-674-6214.