A teenage dropout accused of hatching a “catastrophic” plot to set off a bomb at his former high school on the first day of classes next week is now in police custody.
Jared Cano, 17, of Tampa, Fla., is alleged to have planned an attack on Freedom High School using homemade bombs with the intent of claiming more victims than the 1999 Columbine High School massacre that resulted in 13 deaths before the two teenage shooters killed themselves.
“We were probably able to thwart a potentially catastrophic event the likes of which the city of Tampa has not seen and hopefully never will,” Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor said yesterday at a news conference.
After receiving a tip about the plan, police searched Cano’s family home. In the teenager’s bedroom they discovered materials to make pipe bombs, including shrapnel, plastic tubing, and timing and fusing devices, along with a fuel source, Castor said.
She said the Tampa Police Department’s bomb experts determined the materials could have caused “serious injury up to and including death.”
Castor said Cano had “intentions of exploding some devices on the first day of school next week.”
Also found in Cano’s bedroom was a “manifesto” that included references to two specific faculty members to target and a minute-by-minute schedule for the attack, along with schematic drawings of the inside of Freedom High.
“He mentioned his desire to cause more casualties than were suffered at Columbine,” Castor said.
While no guns were discovered in the troubled teen’s bedroom, Castor said Cano had previously been arrested for carrying a concealed firearm that he had stolen. The teen also had several other arrests as a juvenile for charges including burglary, altering serial numbers on a firearm and drug possession.
Tampa Police Maj. John Newman said that Cano had been on a list of juveniles who police checked on from time to time because of their brushes with the law.
“We’ve been very, very familiar with him,” Newman said.
Tampa Police Department spokeswoman Andrea Davis told The Daily that police dispatch had received a tip-off about Cano’s plot at about 11:50 a.m. on Tuesday. He was arrested at 7 p.m. Tuesday after his mother consented to a search of their apartment.
Cano, who was also found to be cultivating marijuana plants in his room, was transported to a juvenile assessment center without incident.
He now faces a variety of felony bomb and drug charges including threat to throw, project, place or discharge a destructive device, possession of bomb making materials, cultivation of cannabis, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana.
Yesterday Cano appeared in juvenile court for a detention hearing, where he was ordered to be held in custody. The state has not yet decided if he will be charged as an adult or a juvenile.
The troubled teen’s Facebook page includes photos of him holding a machete and drinking from a 40-ounce bottle of malt liquor. He says he attends the “University of Marijuana,” where he is studying “how to grow weed.”
On Aug. 12, Cano posted, “a crazy mind makes for a crazy life.”
Two days earlier, he had written, “i always seem to push away the people that want to help, and i seem to embrace the people that will bring me down. wtf is wrong wit me.”
His last update came Tuesday morning, and reads, “I jut [sic] did the dumbest thing ever,” though it is not clear to what he was referring.
Castor assured students and parents that additional officers will be on duty for the first day of classes at every school in the city as part of the normal back-to-school plan.
“The school will be safe when kids go back next week,” Castor said. “There’s no indication that anyone else was involved.”
Freedom High School Principal Chris Farkas said Cano was expelled from Freedom High School in March 2010 after what Farkas described as an “off-campus incident.”
When told of the alleged plot, Farkas said, “My first response was shock. I wanted to see if it was a real threat.
“Once I found out and saw the information and saw what was taken from the apartment complex, that was when the reality and the fear set in that this was a real situation.”
The St. Petersburg Times reported that prosecutors told the court that when Cano was arrested he repeated his plan to detonate a bomb and cause mass casualties at the school.
The paper also reported that Cano tried to speak when he appeared before a judge yesterday morning but was quickly hushed by his public defender.
“The plot wasn’t ...” Cano began, before the public defender stopped him and said, “He has no comment.”
Hillsborough County public defender’s office administrative counsel Mike Peacock told The Daily he could confirm that Cano was being represented by the state, but no specific attorney had yet been appointed to represent him.
Cano’s arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 5.
— With Associated Press
Jared Cano, 17, of Tampa, Fla., is alleged to have planned an attack on Freedom High School using homemade bombs with the intent of claiming more victims than the 1999 Columbine High School massacre that resulted in 13 deaths before the two teenage shooters killed themselves.
“We were probably able to thwart a potentially catastrophic event the likes of which the city of Tampa has not seen and hopefully never will,” Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor said yesterday at a news conference.
After receiving a tip about the plan, police searched Cano’s family home. In the teenager’s bedroom they discovered materials to make pipe bombs, including shrapnel, plastic tubing, and timing and fusing devices, along with a fuel source, Castor said.
She said the Tampa Police Department’s bomb experts determined the materials could have caused “serious injury up to and including death.”
Castor said Cano had “intentions of exploding some devices on the first day of school next week.”
Also found in Cano’s bedroom was a “manifesto” that included references to two specific faculty members to target and a minute-by-minute schedule for the attack, along with schematic drawings of the inside of Freedom High.
“He mentioned his desire to cause more casualties than were suffered at Columbine,” Castor said.
While no guns were discovered in the troubled teen’s bedroom, Castor said Cano had previously been arrested for carrying a concealed firearm that he had stolen. The teen also had several other arrests as a juvenile for charges including burglary, altering serial numbers on a firearm and drug possession.
Tampa Police Maj. John Newman said that Cano had been on a list of juveniles who police checked on from time to time because of their brushes with the law.
“We’ve been very, very familiar with him,” Newman said.
Tampa Police Department spokeswoman Andrea Davis told The Daily that police dispatch had received a tip-off about Cano’s plot at about 11:50 a.m. on Tuesday. He was arrested at 7 p.m. Tuesday after his mother consented to a search of their apartment.
Cano, who was also found to be cultivating marijuana plants in his room, was transported to a juvenile assessment center without incident.
He now faces a variety of felony bomb and drug charges including threat to throw, project, place or discharge a destructive device, possession of bomb making materials, cultivation of cannabis, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana.
Yesterday Cano appeared in juvenile court for a detention hearing, where he was ordered to be held in custody. The state has not yet decided if he will be charged as an adult or a juvenile.
The troubled teen’s Facebook page includes photos of him holding a machete and drinking from a 40-ounce bottle of malt liquor. He says he attends the “University of Marijuana,” where he is studying “how to grow weed.”
On Aug. 12, Cano posted, “a crazy mind makes for a crazy life.”
Two days earlier, he had written, “i always seem to push away the people that want to help, and i seem to embrace the people that will bring me down. wtf is wrong wit me.”
His last update came Tuesday morning, and reads, “I jut [sic] did the dumbest thing ever,” though it is not clear to what he was referring.
Castor assured students and parents that additional officers will be on duty for the first day of classes at every school in the city as part of the normal back-to-school plan.
“The school will be safe when kids go back next week,” Castor said. “There’s no indication that anyone else was involved.”
Freedom High School Principal Chris Farkas said Cano was expelled from Freedom High School in March 2010 after what Farkas described as an “off-campus incident.”
When told of the alleged plot, Farkas said, “My first response was shock. I wanted to see if it was a real threat.
“Once I found out and saw the information and saw what was taken from the apartment complex, that was when the reality and the fear set in that this was a real situation.”
The St. Petersburg Times reported that prosecutors told the court that when Cano was arrested he repeated his plan to detonate a bomb and cause mass casualties at the school.
The paper also reported that Cano tried to speak when he appeared before a judge yesterday morning but was quickly hushed by his public defender.
“The plot wasn’t ...” Cano began, before the public defender stopped him and said, “He has no comment.”
Hillsborough County public defender’s office administrative counsel Mike Peacock told The Daily he could confirm that Cano was being represented by the state, but no specific attorney had yet been appointed to represent him.
Cano’s arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 5.
— With Associated Press
