'Columbine III' Bomb Plot: Teen Wanted 'High Body Count' in South Carolina

by Albert Milliron | April 21, 2008 at 01:15 pm
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A South Carolina teenager arrested for plotting to bomb his school had designs for an arsenal of explosives including a nail bomb that would have "devastated" students in a crowded hallway, a local police chief said today.

Ryan Schallenberger, 18, called his plot "Columbine III" and laid out details in a "bomb summary" that described the different types of explosives he would use in the suicide attack. He even recorded his expenses.

"I think he was more concerned about a high body count than killing anyone in particular," Chesterfield Police Chief Randall Lear told ABC News.

Schallenberger's "summary" contained details for a nail bomb.

"Inside a school, with confined concrete walls, just a little bit of nails, nuts and bolts, ball bearings and some of these explosives devices, it would devastate the student body," Lear said.

Authorities arrested Schallenberger on Saturday after a package arrived at his family's rural South Carolina home and his parents opened it to find 10 pounds of ammonium nitrate, a substance that can be used as an explosive when combined with diesel fuel or another accelerant.

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