School opens despite bomb plot

NEW BEDFORD, Mass., Nov. 26 (UPI) -- New Bedford High School opened Monday amid tight security as three teenagers accused of plotting a Columbine-like massacre headed to court.

The teens arrested Saturday after a 5-week investigation were allegedly plotting to "create an incident which would surpass" the shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999, police said.

Nearly 40 local and state police officers, using bomb-sniffing dogs, conducted a locker-by-locker, room-by-room search of the school on Sunday, declaring the building to be safe after no explosives or weapons were found.

"This building has been checked from the roof to the basement," said New Bedford School Superintendent Joseph Silva Jr. "The building is absolutely clean. It is safe for everyone to attend school."

Some students arriving for class Monday morning were a bit apprehensive but somewhat comforted by the heavy police presence.

"It's scary," said one teenage girl. "There could be more people involved" in the alleged plot.

Some parents reportedly decided to keep their children home, despite assurances from police and school officials.

"We're doing everything we can to assure people that the school is safe," Silva said.

Headmaster Joseph Oliver was to meet with the school's 3,300 students to discuss their concerns.

Police said 17-year-old junior Eric McKeehan and two 15-year-old juveniles were taken into custody on Saturday, and at least two other juveniles were to surrender to juvenile court on Monday.

A group of students at the school allegedly identified themselves with the so-called Trenchcoat Mafia at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., where Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Kiebold, 17, went on a rampage with bombs and weapons, killing a dozen students and a teacher before taking their own lives.

New Bedford police spokesman Richard Spirlet said the arrested teenagers planned also to set off bombs at New Bedford High, shoot students as they fled and then to kill themselves.

McKeehan, who was being held on $10,000 bail, faced charges of conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and possession of ammunition. The two juveniles, facing similar charges, were being held on $5,000 and reportedly were cooperating with investigators.

The investigation began on Oct. 17 when a female student told a teacher about overhearing others discuss the alleged plot. Then, on Nov. 20, a janitor found a letter that "explicitly and specifically stated what would occur" on an unspecified "Monday," according to New Bedford Police Chief Arthur Kelly.

"We weren't going to let a Monday go by," Kelly said, explaining the urgency behind the arrests. "The day of taking threats lightly ended a long time ago."

Police searched the suspects' home and reportedly found bomb-making instructions, knives, shotgun shells and photos of the suspects holding weapons.

However, no weapons have been turned up, police said.

"My kids are good kids and this has really been blown out of proportion and you know, there's just no way that anything like that would have happened," McKeehan's mother, Carol McKeehan, told the Boston Herald.

The mother of one of the unidentified juveniles told the Boston Globe the arrests were based on rumors and hearsay, and said the shotgun shells taken from her son's room were souvenirs from a camping trip he made with his grandfather.

She accused police officers of "trying to improve their station in life."