SAN MATEO -- A former student at Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, armed with 10 pipe bombs, a chainsaw and a sword, planned to forge a path of destruction through his old campus Monday, authorities said.
Investigators believe his plan was to kill people with bombs, then slaughter the survivors with the chainsaw and sword.
Instead, the 17-year-old was able to detonate only two of the bombs - injuring no one - before staffers at the school tackled him and police arrived.
On Monday evening he was at juvenile hall after being questioned by police and prosecutors. His name has not been released because he is a juvenile. Prosecutors said no decision had been made on whether to charge him as an adult.
Students described a harrowing scene in which the power went out and the fire alarm was triggered as the teenager, with bombs secured to a tactical vest, made his way through the school shortly after classes began at 8 a.m.
The youth lit two of the pipe bombs and threw them in a hallway near the school library, then ran before they detonated, authorities said.
Tackled by teachers
After the second blast, two teachers chased the youth into the arms of a third teacher, who tackled him in a bear hug and held him while other faculty members moved in, said the school's principal, Jeff Gilbert.
"There were more teachers running toward the explosions than running away from them," Gilbert said.
Police, including members of the San Mateo SWAT team, descended on the school at 3115 Del Monte St. and evacuated students and staffers to a nearby middle school, then combed the campus for more bombs and evidence.
Authorities said the suspect had previously been a student at Hillsdale but had not attended the school last year. Video footage shot by KTVU-TV showed a young man with a wispy beard in a white T-shirt being led away by police.
Angry with teachers
Authorities declined to discuss the motive for the attack, but a law enforcement source familiar with the case said the youth had dropped out and was angry with some teachers at Hillsdale.
The teenager's plan was to detonate the pipe bombs outside classrooms, then attack students with the chainsaw and the sword as they fled, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is not complete.
The youth walked onto campus with the chainsaw in a violin case, authorities said. The sword was described as "martial arts-style" with a 2-foot blade.
Suzanne Kreidler, whose daughter was in a classroom when a bomb exploded in the hallway outside, said students reported peering out a door and seeing the suspect trying unsuccessfully to start the chainsaw.
Police said they believed the youth had acted alone.
'Really quiet kid'
Officers cordoned off the youth's San Mateo home in the Villa Serena Apartments on Casa de Campo with crime scene tape and evacuated nearby units for several hours as they searched the suspect's home, neighbors said.
Those neighbors described the teenager as shy and reclusive, saying he rarely ventured outside.
"He was just a really quiet kid. Not many friends. He kept to himself," said April De Guzman, who lives nearby and has known the suspect since middle school.
Neighbors said the boy has lived with his mother and a sister in the complex of two-story, townhouse-style apartments for several years.
"It's strange," said neighbor Annette Stevens. "You never know who's living next door to you."
The boy's father is believed to live elsewhere. A man who answered the phone at the father's number declined to comment.
Chaos as classes began
Classes at the 1,200-student high school began last week, and the school day had just begun Monday when the chaos erupted.
"We heard two explosions," student Ryan Dawson said. He went outside the classroom and saw "what looked like a knife on the ground" and teachers tackling someone.
A girl who asked that her name not be used said, "The power went out. This guy (a student who had left the room) came in and locked the door. I saw a guy with a chainsaw. Explosions went off."
She said the suspect knocked on the door, and students heard the sound of a chainsaw being fired up.
While being held by teachers with eight unexploded pipe bombs still in his vest, the suspect said the explosives had to be lit to detonate, Gilbert said.
Police initially received several phone calls from the school reporting that a gunman was on the campus, then reports of the explosions, police said. No gun was found.
Students evacuated from the school were directed to the playground at nearby Abbott Middle School at 600 36th Ave. Parents went to the middle school to pick up their children students there.
Stevens, whose son attends Hillsdale High, pointed to the bravery of the school staffer who first tackled the suspect.
"Thank God for that teacher," Stevens said.
