John LaDue, a 17-year-old from Minnesota, has been arrested both in connection with the March discovery of explosive devices at a local elementary school, and for another, even more sinister plot.
"The plan that LaDue laid out in a journal police now have would have included bombs in the schools, murdering the school resource officer and then shooting at will until he was taken out by a SWAT team. LaDue planned to die." (Via KARE)
The mentioned journal was reportedly 180 detailed pages, and police say the plan was originally to be executed April 20 - a nod to another American tragedy.
In the journal, police say LaDue wrote he idolized the Columbine shooters - the teens who executed the deadly school shootings on April 20, 1999 in Colorado. However, the date fell on a Sunday this year, so LaDue didn't act.
Police say LaDue was also going to start a fire in rural Waseca to distract first responders, then go to the school to kill as many people as possible.
"Officers at a press conference today admit the only reason LaDue is under arrest now is because someone spotted him going inside a rented storage unit on Tuesday evening and thought it looked suspicious." (Via KMSP)
"By doing the right thing, unimaginable tragedy has been prevented." (Via WCCO)
Police say they believe LaDue was going to attack within the next few weeks. The revelations have shocked the city - school officials say he was a good student, although quiet. Still, KSTP says search of his home and storage unit proved everyone wrong:
"Police found seven guns, several bombs, bomb making chemicals and a pressure cooker."
KARE reports a juvenile petition says LaDue is charged with four counts of attempted first-degree murder. This comes a little more than a month after explosives were found in melting snow outside an elementary school, neither of which hurt anyone. Police believe LaDue is responsible for that incident.
