Castle Rock – The junior who set off a small explosive device Friday near Ponderosa High School in Parker posed no threat nor intended any harm, his lawyer said today, adding that the teen has never been in trouble with the law.
“My client is not another Klebold and Harris,” Robert Wareham said after juvenile’s bail was set, referring to the Columbine shooters. “He’s a nice, young kid.”
Chemicals to make another device were found in the boy’s backpack when the school’s resource officer questioned him.
Assistant District Attorney Leslie Hansen asked for a cash bond of $50,000, the expected restitution for the deployment of law enforcement to the campus, including regional SWAT teams.
Magistrate Louis Gresh set bail at $25,000. The 17-year-old, who is not named because he is a juvenile, will be formally charged May 8.
Cocha Heyden, a spokeswoman for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department, said she could not comment on an ongoing investigation.
“Whatever his intentions, the fact remains he had those chemicals in his backpack, and we have to treat that threat seriously.”
Heyden said the chemicals were typical household cleaning products. Wareham said the device involved a soda bottle and characterized the incident as minor.
“If you shake up a pop, it becomes an explosive device,” he said.
Authorities have not released more details to avoid imitation.
This morning, as the teenager shuffled into a Castle Rock courtroom, his mother looked as if she had been crying for days.
On Friday, the eighth anniversary of the Columbine shootings, authorities evacuated and searched the school after discovering that the student had supplies in his backpack to make another device.
The boy has been held at the Marvin W. Foote Youth Services Center while the sheriff’s department has investigated charges of possession or use of explosives and unlawful possession of a weapon on school grounds, both felonies, and interference with school staff, a misdemeanor.
School officials are considering suspending the teenager for a year.
The family moved to Parker from New Mexico about a year ago, Wareham said.
“He was oblivious to the significance of the day,” Wareham said.
Staff writer Joey Bunch can be reached at 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com.
