DA: 911 Call About Bomb Plot May Have Prevented Mass Murder

Published 5:00 pm Sunday, May 26, 2013

The discovery of six bombs made by a 17-year-old Oregon high school student started with a tip from a 911 caller and Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson says it may have prevented a mass murder.

Authorities in Albany reacted quickly to the tip and seized homemade bombs hidden in the bedroom of Grant Alan Acord, a student at West Albany High School.

Acord was arrested Thursday and is being charged as an adult.

The Albany Democrat-Herald reports he will be arraigned Tuesday in Benton County Circuit Court on one count of aggravated attempted murder and six counts each of manufacturing a destructive device, possession of a destructive device and possession of a weapon with intent to use it against another person.

Graham Kislingbury / Democrat Herald

Jeff Galloway, Port of Portland K9 sergeant and handler, walks Wwright toward the entrance of West Albany High School late Friday afternoon.

Investigators found the bombs under floorboards of Acord’s bedroom at his mother’s home. Haroldson said Saturday at a news conference.

Investigators seized a plan, checklists and a diagram of West Albany High School. Among the documents was a date in which the youth planned to set off the bombs and firearms in an incident that was “specifically modeled after Columbine,” Haroldson said.

Two students in 1999 fired weapons at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., killing 13 and wounding 21.

“This is a case of a planned assault on a target-rich environment and that target-rich environment is the West Albany High School,” Haroldson said.

The North Albany home of Acord’s father also was searched and more explosives were found, Haroldson said.

A search of the school found no explosives.

No motive has been identified, Haroldson said.

Acord’s plans, he said, revealed “inspirations and a focus of recreating a model of Columbine with some adjustments that would make it more successful.”

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Information from: Albany Democrat-Herald, http://www.dhonline.com

This story originally appeared on Oregon Public Broadcasting.