April 22, 2008

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Mental evaluation sought for teen in school bomb plot

WHO: Ryan Schallenberger
WHAT: A prosecutor urged a mental health evaluation for a teenager whose alleged plot to bomb his high school was foiled when his parents discovered he had ordered explosive materials on the Internet.
WHEN: April 22, 2008
WHERE: CHESTERFIELD, South Carolina
WHY: Ryan Schallenberger, 18, was arrested Saturday after his parents called police because he had ordered 10 pounds of ammonium nitrate, which they retrieved after getting a delivery notice from the postal service, authorities said. His parents had sought help earlier in the week from mental health experts when he slammed his head into a wall, but the clinic offered no help, authorities said Monday. His parents took him to a hospital.
HOW: Schallenberger was not badly injured, though he made a 4-inch indentation in the wallboard, according to prosecutor Jay Hodge, who said he would request at a bail hearing Tuesday that the teen undergo a mental health evaluation. A spokesman for the mental health clinic would not confirm or deny any contact with Schallenberger's family, citing state law. Ammonium nitrate is an explosive commonly used as fertilizer and was employed in the deadly 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Authorities said Schallenberger bought the ammonium nitrate off eBay. Police said they discovered a hate-filled journal lauding the Columbine killers, an audiotape to be played after Schallenberger died during his rampage and a year's worth of plans for the bombing that included a hand-drawn map of the school. "He's just a soft-spoken little kid," Hodge said at a brief hearing Monday, adding that Schallenberger threatened to do something "very violent."