A Waseca, Minnesota teen has been accused of plotting to murder his family and a school massacre. Police arrested the teen on Tuesday, over a month after explosives were first discovered at an elementary school.
John David LaDue, 17, has been charged with four counts of attempted first-degree murder for planning to kill his parents and sister; six counts of possessing explosive devices; and two counts of first-degree criminal damage to property. According to KARE11, LaDue allegedly also plotted to kill a school liaison officer, then as many students as he could before he would be stopped.
Capt. Kris Markeson of the Waseca Police Department announced LaDue’s arrest at a press conference Thursday afternoon. As he described LaDue’s plot, Markeson was visibly shaken. “He intended to set off numerous bombs during the lunch hour and kill the school resource officers and set fires and shoot students and staff,” Markeson said.
The Star Tribune reports that LaDue planned on killing his family first, which would send first responders to his home. He believed that they would be distracted from responding to anything going on at Waseca Junior and Senior High School. He told police that he planned to kill “as many students as he could,” shooting any student that was not killed or hurt by the explosives, before he was killed by a SWAT team, according to documents filed in court.
“The information that has been revealed is that we've escaped what could have been a horrific experience," Waseca Schools Superintendent Tom Lee said.
Markeson said that if he believed LaDue would have carried out his plot because of all the preparation he did. LaDue had allegedly been planning this for 10 months, even leaving “practice bombs” at school fields. A few of these bombs were found in March, which started the investigation.
According to documents, LaDue was arrested after a 911 caller spotted him going in and out of a storage facility with a backpack. He was arrested there, surrounded by explosives.
Waseca High School will host a meeting Friday night “to communicate to families our plans for moving forward together,” according to the school district.