Bombs Found in Homes of Boys Accused in Separate School Plot

Gunpowder, crude bombs and computer disks with bomb-making information were found in the homes of three 14-year-old boys accused of plotting an assault at their junior high school, investigators said Saturday.

“Based on the statements given, it is clear that these young men were serious about targeting fellow students and teachers,” Hays County Sheriff Don Montague said of the alleged plot, which brought to mind the Colorado high school rampage.

Five eighth-grade boys were taken into custody Friday afternoon and held on juvenile charges of conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit arson and conspiracy to manufacture explosives, authorities said.

The three boys whose homes were searched remained in juvenile detention Saturday along with another boy, the sheriff said. He would not reveal the location of the fifth boy.

Only three homes were searched Friday night because that was all authorities had probable cause to check, the sheriff said.

The alleged plot, believed to have been conceived in January, came to light Friday when school officials were contacted by students who had overheard discussions.

Nothing unusual was found at the Danforth campus of Wimberley Junior High, which has more than 400 students, a school official said. The five boys were expelled.