A 15-year-old Pinnacle high school student has been taken into police custody after he allegedly threatened to blow up a mosque and brought several pounds of potassium nitrate into school with him.
Police were first alerted to the suspect after one of his classmates at the Pinnacle High School told his parents on Monday the suspect had expressed a desire to ‘blow up a Muslim church’, investigators say.
According to the parents of the witness, the boy said he didn’t ‘observe any weapons or devices that would allow the suspect to act upon his statement’.
However, on Tuesday morning the same classmate said he noticed the suspect carrying a plastic bag containing ‘several pounds of a white powdery substance’ around campus.
He reported the sighting to school officials who immediately dialed 911. When officers arrived at the scene they found the boy in possession of the white powder as first reported.
Further tests revealed the substance was potassium nitrate. Even though potassium nitrate isn’t a dangerous material on its own when mixed with other chemicals it can be used to create an explosive.
The teenager, who has not been named, remains in custody where he’s currently being questioned by police.
