Police: 'Techno-wizard' suspect fooled family
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
(08-25) 17:49 PDT SAN MATEO --
The 17-year-old held in the pipe bomb attack on a San Mateo high school was a "techno-wizard" who told his family he was building model rockets as he assembled his explosive devices from material he bought over the Internet, authorities said Tuesday.
Angry with teachers who had given him bad grades at Hillsdale High School, where he dropped out more than a year ago, and smarting over how other students there had treated him, the youth began planning the attack months ago, said law enforcement sources briefed on the interrogation of the boy.
On Monday, he walked onto the campus with 10 pipe bombs strapped to his vest and toting a chain saw in a violin case and a "martial arts-style" sword with a 2-foot blade, authorities said. He set off two bombs before faculty members wrestled him to the ground. No one was injured.
'Cold-blooded plan'
"It was a cold-blooded plan of execution," San Mateo Police Chief Susan Manheimer said at a news conference Tuesday. The teenager's goal, she said, was to cause "mass casualties."
"He was interested in hurting and maiming many people," Manheimer said, to make up for "perceived wrongs."
Without elaborating, the chief added that the boy "did have intended targets ... on the faculty."
Sources have said they believe the youth planned to hack at Hillsdale students and teachers with the chain saw and sword if they were not killed by the bombs.
The chain saw, according to one source, was intended to "differentiate his attack" from other acts of school violence over the years.
The boy's name has not been released because prosecutors have not decided whether to charge him as an adult. He has been booked into juvenile hall on suspicion of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and explosives charges.
Mother 'in the dark'
Authorities said that in March, the teenager began making Internet purchases of chemicals needed to make the pipe bombs. He lives with his mother in a San Mateo apartment where authorities seized potential bomb-making materials and computer hard drives during a search late Monday, authorities said.
Officials believe his mother had not been aware of her son's alleged plans. "She was in the dark," one law enforcement source said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.
Some of the materials the teenager obtained can legally be purchased only by an adult, authorities said. They said the boy had told family members he was making model rockets.
The law enforcement source described the boy as a "techno-wizard," an assessment echoed by his grandmother. Shirley Youshock said the boy was skilled on the computer and had earned straight A's in school.
Youshock called him a quiet boy and said she knew of nothing that would have prompted Monday's attack.
"I just think that his mind was somewhere else," Youshock said. "He wasn't thinking clearly. ... This is totally out of character.
"Obviously, something went very wrong."
The boy was enrolled in continuation courses, Youshock said. Authorities believe he was taking the classes over the Internet.
Youshock, 78, who lives in Sewell, N.J., said the boy's parents divorced seven years ago. The boy's father, Richard Youshock, lives in Santa Clara. The youth's mother, Carol, and an older sister live in the townhouse-style apartment in San Mateo.
Although investigators believe he was angry at Hillsdale teachers and students, Shirley Youshock said she knew of nothing that was gnawing at her grandson.
"There didn't seem to be anything bothering him," she said. "I'm at a loss, I really am."
The suspect's father declined to comment to The Chronicle on Monday, and efforts to reach his mother have been unsuccessful.
Father talked of college
"Every time we ever talked to (Richard Youshock), he never said there were any problems with (his son)," Shirley Youshock said. In fact, when she spoke to her son about two weeks before, they talked about the boy going to college, Youshock said.
"He is well-behaved," she said. "I never heard a problem about him at all. He was just a very quiet boy. When we were out there, he was just so polite."
Youshock said she spoke to her son early Tuesday and did what she could to comfort him.
"I'm just so sorry that something like this had to happen," she said. "I'm just thankful that nobody got hurt. ... God was looking out for everybody."
Chronicle staff writers John Koopman and Henry K. Lee contributed to this report. E-mail Jaxon Van Derbeken at
jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com.