Six people were hurt after a 16-year-old boy accidentally detonated an explosive device inside a classroom in Michigan.
What We Know:
- According to NBC News, Michigan State Police were called to Newaygo High School just before 9 a.m. on Monday after five students and one teacher were injured by a homemade explosive device. The unidentified student with the device suffered moderate to severe injuries and was taken to a nearby hospital while the four other students and one teacher sought medical treatment for minor injuries.
- Police say that the teen was sitting at his desk in class when the device accidentally went off. After the explosion, the school was placed on lockdown as students were evacuated and classes were canceled for the day.
- While police continue to investigate why the teen brought the device to school, it appears that the incident was not intentional.
“It was an isolated incident and it was not intended to hurt people, we do not believe. It’s under investigation so we have new facts coming in but it was definitely not something he intended to have happen,” police said in a press conference.
- Initially, school officials thought that the teen had brought in a firework. Superintendent Dr. Peg Mathis said on Facebook that the student brought “some type of firework device” to class. On Monday evening, however, a search warrant for the student’s home in Newaygo County uncovered “additional explosive devices,” suggesting the device was homemade. The Facebook post has since been taken down.
- The Newaygo County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has charged the teen’s father, 34-year-old David Robert Daniel Saylor, with one count of manufacturing a Molotov cocktail and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Saylor is a habitual offender and charged with a second offense notice. He was arraigned last Tuesday.
Police are working with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to investigate what kind of explosive materials were used to make the device.
