Bus hijacker’s plan ‘rudimental’

Keith Paul

Tuesday, April 30, 2002 | 10:58 a.m.

PAHRUMP -- Students filed back into Pahrump Valley High School this morning a day after being sent home as a precaution after a 15-year-old student tried to implement his plan to blow up the school.

The plan made little sense, however -- and the boy's attempt to use a hijacked school bus as a getaway car ultimately ended a plot before it began Monday morning. The boy allegedly planned to ignite the school's propane tanks.

"I took a look at the note he wrote his parents. It was not the note of a lucid person," said Jerry Hill, Pahrump Valley High School principal. "I think you dignify it by calling it a plan. It was just very rudimental."

Some who attend the 900-student school, which opened in 1991, seemed more annoyed than concerned about the boy's plan.

"It makes me mad," senior Sarah Kulkin said. "I honestly don't ever think they will do anything."

Asa Kulkin, a freshman, agreed with his sister and said he was never scared by the plot.

But their mother, Deanna Kulkin, said she is always worried about potential threats and was "disgusted that this happened."

A mother coming by Monday afternoon to pick up her two boys from nearby Hafen Elementary School said she was shocked to hear of the plot.

"Before you could guarantee they were safe at school," Candy Campoamor said. "I came from Phoenix. Something like this in Phoenix, yes. In Las Vegas? Yes. But in Pahrump?"

Senior Brian Callahan said he is tired of school being interrupted, as the students have already had to deal with mold found at their school.

"I just want to get done with school," he said.

When asked if he was afraid after hearing the plot, he shrugged his shoulders and said "Nah," before adding, "Well maybe a little."

Nye County Sheriff investigators brought in Metro Police explosive detection dogs to check the school, but no explosives were found.

Early reports that a second student was arrested were not correct. Another student had heard about the plot but didn't play any part in it and even told the boy his idea wouldn't work, said Lt. Bill Becht, commander of the Nye County Sheriff Pahrump substation.

The series of events started about 7:30 a.m. when the boy was picked up at his normal bus stop. He was the first student picked up, and the bus was empty except for him and the driver. The boy is accused of confronting the driver with a Samurai sword and forcing her off the bus, Assistant Sheriff Rick Marshall said.

The boy then fled from police when he was pursued. He didn't seem to have a real plan as to where he was going, as he went off into the desert at one point before driving the bus back onto the road, Marshall said.

The boy was driving on California Highway 178 when California authorities placed a strip of spikes across the road. The boy attempted to avoid the spikes and caused the bus to flip over onto its side. He was taken into custody about 8:10 a.m., Becht said.

It was then California Highway Patrol officers found sketches of the school and notations where explosives would be planted, Becht said.

"He didn't target anyone in particular," Becht said. "The only thing he said was that he didn't want the school to be there anymore."

Along with the plans, police found two boxes of shotgun shells and four or five magazines of 8 mm rifle ammunition -- which apparently were going to be used to ignite propane tanks behind the school.

"He said he wanted to blow up the tanks and the records (office)," Becht said.

The bus hijacking apparently was a new addition to the plot. It was not written down with the rest of the plan, although Becht said the boy told investigators he was going to use the bus to run away and then double back into town in a couple of days to blow up the school.

"I don't think it was very well thought out," Becht said. "I don't know how he thought he was going to remain low-profile in a big yellow bus."

Hill, who has served as principal for six years, said he evacuated the school about 9 a.m., and by 10:30 a.m. he had sent all of the kids home.

"We did everything as a precaution," he said. "We wanted to be thorough. It was checked and double-checked and nothing was found."

He said students will be told about what happened today.

Several students told police they had heard the boy say he was going to do something to the school, but they didn't notify anyone.

Hill said the students didn't tell anyone because they likely didn't take the boy seriously.

"We have a very good track record for people coming forward," he said. "We had a bomb threat last year and within five minutes after the threat was made six students came down to say who made the threat."

The boy was held Monday in a California juvenile detention center pending extradition to Pahrump. He faces several charges including assault with a deadly weapon.

Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, a company that offers school security training for law enforcement and teachers, said that he wishes he was surprised to hear about the incident in Pahrump.

"Unfortunately it doesn't surprise me," Trump said. "We continue to see these kinds of incidents. We're now taking a look at the possibility that a school could be a target of opportunity for a terrorist attack, but we can't forget about the domestic side that we've always had.

"We stress to school officials that they need to think about security issues before the headlines. We want them to look at what steps they can take to prevent an incident from happening, but from the White House to the schoolhouse there isn't a perfect security plan."

Trump said that incidents are more likely to happen toward the end of the school year.

"By the end of the year various groups and cliques have had a chance to form, and interpersonal conflict has had plenty of time to escalate," Trump said.