Just because the Islamic State has been defeated militarily doesn’t mean these people have gone away. And a Utah high school has learned that in what could have been a horrific attack in students. A teen is in custody after an attempted ISIS-inspired bomb threat at Pine View High School in St. George. The homemade bomb was in the student’s backpack. It began to start smoking, prompting the evacuation (via Associated Press):
The boy was arrested Monday night after Pine View High School in the city of St. George was evacuated for two hours that afternoon while the FBI and a bomb squad investigated. Police declined to identify the arrested teen or give his age.
Authorities said additional charges also are pending against the teen as a suspect in the raising of the Islamic State group's flag on a pole at another Utah high school last month just after the Florida mass school shooting that was followed by numerous other threats to schools around the U.S.
No one was hurt Monday after the backpack was found in a common area of the school by a student who reported it to a teacher.
The boy was arrested and booked into a detention center on charges of manufacture, possession, sale, use or attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, St. George police said in a statement.
No one was hurt, no damage was reported and the school reopened Tuesday morning for classes. Police did not describe the homemade bomb in detail but said it "had the potential to cause significant injury or death."
The bomb was determined to have been able to cause significant damage (via Clarion Project):
“After examining the device, bomb squad members indicted that if it had detonated, the device had the potential to cause significant injury or death,” read a statement by the police.
“A warrant was served on the residence of that juvenile and items were located that were consistent with the materials used to build the device placed at Pine View. Based on our investigation we can confirm this was a failed attempt to detonate a homemade explosive at the school,” police wrote in a statement.
Thanks to school officials and local law enforcement for acting quickly to stop this young man.