A New Jersey teen who offered his “expertise” to help students detonate bombs for a school project was found to have a large explosives lab brewing in his basement, according to police.
The boy turned 18 over the weekend, when he allegedly joined fellow teenagers in igniting bombs in the backyard of someone else’s home in Moorestown, according to police.
“I thought there was an earthquake or something,” neighbor Soujanya Gamini told ABC 6 of the explosions that rocked the Cove Road area.
One of the students reported it to police, who then searched the suspect’s home on East Oak Avenue.
Inside, Moorestown officers found a “decent-sized lab” filled with volatile materials for explosive devices, Director of Police Patrick Reilly said, with the area around it quickly evacuated.
“He had a lab in the basement that had additional explosive material, so that was removed because of the volatility of that material that was denoted in their backyard,” he said.
“The bomb techs said it was not a normal type of home lab,” he added.
The teen didn’t have specific targets for his bombs, Reilly stressed.
Instead, the boy appears to have been trying to show off his “expertise” while offering to help other students “build what they wanted to build,” Reilly said.
“At this point, we’re pretty confident that there are no threats out there,” the police chief said.
Officials swept local schools as a precaution, including the suspect’s own Moorestown High School.
Reilly said the case is being handled by the FBI, with the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office mulling what charges, if any, will be filed against the suspect.
Officials had recommended the teen be charged with causing or risking widespread injury or damage, and possession of destructive devices.
Police said the suspect is not in custody but is being tracked by the FBI.
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