Austin police arrested five high school students on accusations of making homemade bombs out of household cleaners and setting them off at the home of teachers.
Police say four of the five students attended Brentwood Christian School on North Lamar. They are Jacob Cardenas, Henry Rhea, Brady Johnson, and Brian Lam.
The school’s president described them as good students with no past behavior problems.
The fifth student arrested, Luke Mallett, attends Hyde Park Baptist School. According to arrest affidavits, it was Mallett’s idea to build the bombs and set them off at the homes of Brentwood Christian School teachers.
“All of them emphatically say they were playing around, and it was a joke. They meant no harm to anybody; they didn’t mean to harm anybody’s property. They are actually friends with these teachers, and it was just meant as a practical joke,” said Corporal Scott Perry, Austin Police Department.
The five accused are facing charges of criminal mischief, a state jail felony.
The homemade bombs caused $3,700 dollars in damage at a teacher’s home on Charolais Drive in North Austin. Police say the teenagers set them off December 23rd, 2009.
Surveillance video at the Wal-Mart Supercenter on north Interstate 35 caught three of the teenagers buying toilet bowl cleaner the night of the bombs. It's a main ingredient of the bombs.
