A 17-year-old planned to bomb his Alabama high school, police say, but his plot was foiled after a teacher found his detail-filled journal. Derek Shrout reportedly left the diary in her classroom; while flipping through it in search of a name, she noticed plans for an attack that mentioned six students and a teacher, reports the Ledger-Enquirer of Columbus, Ga. Shrout had "obviously put a lot of thought into the plan," says the local police chief. Though Shrout claimed the writing was fictional, a search of his house turned up the makings of explosives.
Police found several dozen cans holding pellets and drilled with holes. Two big cans were labeled "Little Boy" and "Fat Man," a nod to the code names for the atomic bombs used on Japan in World War II. Authorities didn't turn up a few key bomb ingredients, but the cans were "a step or two away from being ready to explode," the chief says, and officials noted that Shrout described himself as a white supremacist. Added the chief: "He has a lot of pent up anger toward blacks. The system worked and thank God it did. We avoided a very bad situation." He is set to face a charge of attempted assault in court today.
