Ex-Classmate Of Bay Area Teen Accused Of Having WMD Doubts Any Harm Planned
BELMONT (KPIX 5) - A former Bay Area high school classmate of a teenager charged in Pennsylvania with possessing a bomb was casting doubt Monday on whether he planned on hurting anyone with it.
19-year-old Vladislav Miftakhov was arrested Friday and charged with possessing a weapon of mass destruction, risking a catastrophe and several other drug and weapons counts, according to court records.
Miftakhov, a student at Penn State's satellite campus in Altoona, Pa., was first arrested for a marijuana- growing operation. But when Altoona police searched his apartment they say they found a suitcase with a bomb and bomb-making materials such as potassium nitrate, fuses and containers of compressed air.
Miftakhov graduated from Carlmont High School in Belmont last June. A former classmate, Alhon Carrenca, characterized him as nice, quiet and kind of strange – but added he wouldn't hurt anyone.
"He was actually a genuinely kind person, so don't think he was trying to, like, hurt people," said Carrenca. "I think he was intrigued with the whole chemistry and it led him down the drain, you know?"
Watch reporter Brian Webb's update on KPIX 5 tonight at 5:00 and 6:00 p.m.