Waseca, MN, kid arrested, planned Columbine type of attack

Authorities said Thursday that they prevented an "unimaginable tragedy" by foiling a teenager's elaborate plot to kill his family and bomb the junior and senior high school in the southern Minnesota city of Waseca.
Police arrested the 17-year-old suspect Tuesday and charged him in juvenile court Thursday with four counts of attempted first-degree murder, six counts of possessing explosive or incendiary devices and two counts of criminal damage to property. The charges say he told police he intended to kill "as many students as he could."

link

It's the same story as my local paper.



It's a good thing, yet I have a problem with the story. Why is a kid charged with attempted murder for words? I have dealt with these Waseca cops and they will charge you for murdering the president even if you only shoplifted bubblegum. My personal opinion, from experience, says the guys lucked into this case and have no actual detective skills or actions that resulted in their making an arrest. Waseca cops would arrest an empty coffee cup, they are that zealous.

John David LaDue had it all figured out. He would kill his mother, father and sister and then create a diversion to keep first responders busy while he went to Waseca Junior/Senior High School to wreak havoc.

There, the 17-year-old planned to set off pressure-cooker bombs full of nails and metal ball bearings in the cafeteria. Students who weren’t maimed or killed would be gunned down in the halls, he told police.

After his arrest Tuesday, the high school junior said he intended to kill “as many students as he could,” before he was killed by the SWAT team, according to charging documents filed in Waseca County District Court.

LaDue was charged Thursday with four counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree damage to property and six counts of possession of a bomb by someone under 18.

different link
Had to add another link.

I still don't know. I can tell you one thing, though... These are keystone kops, Waseca police force, that is.

This story reminds me of the movie "We need to talk about Kevin." Iam curious op,you seem upset at the police for all the charges against this boy. At what point do you think they should have intervened then? Thank god,he never got the chance to act on his plan. Thank god a nosy person actually paid attention and acted on their suspicions. Most of us would have shrugged it off. I won't knock the police in this case at all. We have no idea how many lives they just saved.

a reply to: AccessDenied

I am upset because weird things have happened in that town due to police incompetence. I think it was good that they nabbed the kid, but the information that they used might be dubious, to say the least. Even if you have been an upstanding citizen in the Waseca MN area, you would give pause to their local police actions. It might as well be Compton, CA.

If the kid detailed his actions or wants, I still don't see how it garners first degree attempted murder. They are a heavy handed police force that hasn't actually prevented crime, so what they have done instead is to attempt to prosecute anything that will help them save face.

Yes, I may be biased against them. Simply for good reason.

I still must say that if the kid was thwarted, they finally did a good job.

60lbs.of ball bearings and explosive materials.I'd say a tragedy was just avoided.Nice kid(sarcasm).

a reply to: TDawg61

It's too bad that these guys aren't always as good at criminal investigation. They could be movie stars in a different life. I think it's good that they thwarted an attempt, but I maintain that they got lucky. That town is a backwater mess and they were lucky enough to catch a kid who was attempting to make a statement, whether he could pull it off or not. The one, or two things, of his plot were the detonators and/or ball bearings. Maybe the writings as well. But, who doesn't know an angst ridden 17 yo who isn't upset at life. I'm not defending him, I'm trying to give a broader spectrum. 4 counts of attempted first degree murder. For words, not actually trying to kill anybody.

Awesome. At least posters on this site are unimpressed when cops do good. I almost want to super-sarcastically say, ''The white cop robbed the black kid of all of his explosives.'' I'm sure posters would get all up in arms over that.

I am willing to bet this kid was bullied or picked on at that school. Also, I am willing to wager he tried to report it and was somehow scolded or some other form of non-acknowledgement from the system pushed him into this corner. Makes me wonder if they drugged him up due to it as well....medicate the youth is the answer way to often IMO.

I still think he is responsible for his actions, and am not condoning it, but trying to explain why these kids snap like this occasionally.

But then, this is pure speculation on my part based upon previous cases such as this one.

a reply to: dfens

So,you post a story about how the local police thwart a potential tragedy on not just a local level but reaches nationwide especially rehashing the past incident of Columbine....and you are upset with members here because we don't share your view of your local LEO's as a keystone cop operation? Of course we are going to applaud them based on what you posted. We can't comment on incompetence with nothing to back up your accusations. We don't live where you live,or see what you see. If you have cause to prove otherwise,please do. Way I see it,no matter how they conduct their daily business,they just saved a lot of people. Whether you think the charges are justified or not,your link states he wrote his intentions in detail and practised over nine months time. I have no doubt he meant to do it. We have no idea the details in which he kept notes,and worse how does this kid get that kind of ammo? How did he fool everyone into believing he was ok? No red flags at all till he was caught red handed? Fluke or not,I can only focus on police actions in the story you posted,nothing else.

Wow. The police stopped what would have been serious carnage yet you choose to demean them and bash them anyway?

They already had evidence from 'tests' the teen conducted at an elementary school playground, so the evidence they have is not just words, as you erroneously suggest. He had already begun to carry out his scheme and had carried out some initial phases of the plot. The words in his notebook will probably attest to that.

The lady who called 911 deserves the gratitude of her community.

a reply to: AccessDenied

The cops here are scum.

Waseca cops don't care about murderers

They had the opportunity to prevent murder, they just thought it was a prank call. It would've been buried if it wasn't an important person's daughter. Even so, nobody got censured over serious lack of judgment.

No offense to you personally. I have experience that pretty much disqualifies most of those cops from detecting an itch on their butt, much less a suicide bombing. I know these people, personally. I think they are lying. Take it as you may, this is a bit more than what it seems.

a reply to: dfens

If the kid detailed his actions or wants, I still don't see how it garners first degree attempted murder.

If I'm not too far off my guess here, he more than qualifies for attempted multiple murder with special circumstances of the multiple murder, the use of explosives and anyone who was at his target...like a school cop..just adds another special circumstance. Each "Special" is a 1st Degree Capital Murder charge carrying Natural Life without Parole or Death, had he killed people. So... Attempted 1st degree homicide sounds about right to me.

I get that you hate the police force here..but even Barney Fife did something like police work occasionally, just for show to say he did, I suppose... It sounds like they scored one for the good guys, this time.

The only thing the suspect HADN'T done was light the bomb fuse.And only because he got busted.Otherwise I believe that we'd be talking about the latest school massacre.

LaDue allegedly told authorities that he was fascinated by the school shootings at Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech and Columbine.

LaDue’s elaborate plot and preparations were detailed in a 180-page notebook obtained from the boy’s bedroom, said police, who believe he was ready to carry out the attack within the next two weeks.

“He intended to set off numerous bombs during the lunch hour and kill the school resource officers and set fires and shoot students and staff,” said Capt. Markeson, who was visibly shaken. According to USA Today , the investigation began on March 24, when two explosive devices were discovered in the playground at Hartley Elementary School in Waseca, about 115 kilometres south of Minneapolis. A third device, hidden inside a stuffed toy, was found detonated there four days later. LaDue’s arrest was set in motion on Tuesday, when a tipster called police to report a suspicious person going into a storage unit near the school wearing a back pack

FULL STORY

Whatever issues you have with this police force OP,they deserve to be put aside right now.

a reply to: AccessDenied

I'll admit once again that I have no love for that police force. I also admit that however they accomplished preventing this kid from carrying out what he intended, good job. I did manage to state that originally.

Reading back, I realize that the last article that I linked didn't explain the full story. The kid who did the murdering had actually had the cops and the sheriff called on him before actually calling them himself and nothing was done. I still doubt I'll be able to put it in proper perspective. I AM glad that nobody died this time.

I apologize for trying to beat this dead horse. I do tend to get a bit overzealous when it comes to ragging on those folks. If it's any consolation, I am not hardly the only one who thinks this way about them. That it was an anonymous tip still gives me pause.

This is a very distrubed teenager.
If you listen to the police interview transcript he is a psychopath, and they have a total disconnect.
The kid said he had 'good parents,' but was going to kill them to help bring his body count higher.

“I have good parents. I live in a good town,” LaDue told investigators,
“They did nothing wrong,” he said. “I just wanted as many victims as possible.”
“He thinks I’m just a good kid, because I can lie pretty well and persuade him that I’m just ordinary,” the teen said.

Very sad, and alarming. This is a mental health issue, not gun control, police brutality etc.