School Reopens After Charges of Plot

A high school where two teenage brothers and a friend allegedly plotted a Columbine-style blood bath reopened Monday after a sweep by officers and bomb-sniffing dogs, but many students stayed home.

While students who did go to school listened to counselors and school officials describe what had happened, Eric McKeehan, 17, pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail. Two 15-year-olds also were being held after pleading not guilty in closed juvenile court hearings.

They were charged with possession of ammunition, conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

The students allegedly modeled themselves after the two teenagers who carried out the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colo.

They were arrested at their homes Saturday after a New Bedford High School janitor found a letter outlining their plans to kill “thugs, preps, and faculty” at the school by detonating explosives there and opening fire as they fled.

The youths planned to climb onto the school’s roof and get high before shooting each other “so it was a homicide, not suicide,” according to police interviews with two students who authorities say were involved but had not been arrested or charged.

Authorities who searched the boys’ homes found a variety of weapons, bomb-making instructions and Satanic materials.

Satanic masks, a meat cleaver, an ax and a photograph of Adolf Hitler were found in one suspect’s bedroom, according to a police report. Police also discovered torture devices and spent cartridges from five different types of guns.

The school was declared safe and opened Monday after a sweep by nearly 40 officers and five bomb-sniffing dogs. Still, 41% of the 3,300 students stayed home.

“We didn’t think we were going to find anything,” Lt. Richard Spirlet said. “But we want to put the public at ease.”

The mothers of the teens who were charged defended their sons.

Carol McKeehan, Eric’s mother, told the Boston Herald the case had “been blown out of proportion and, you know, there’s just no way anything like that would have happened.”

Another suspect’s mother said the charges were based on rumors and hearsay.

“These kids are good kids--all of them,” she said outside the courthouse Monday, where some students had attended proceedings instead of going to school.

One of them, Trisha Boucher, 14, said McKeehan’s “Goth”-style clothes and attitude were like those of many other students.

“He just looks like a normal kid,” she said. “I think they’re blowing it all out of proportion.”

A student first alerted police to the alleged plot in mid-October. Police questioned one of the teenagers after discovering bomb-making materials at an undisclosed property the following week.

But the bomb lacked key elements that would arm it, so police could not make an arrest, Police Chief Arthur Kelly said.