Centaurus High Pipe Bomb: Student 'Shocked' To Learn Who's Being Charged

LAFAYETTE, Colo. (CBS4) - Some students at Centaurus High School in Lafayette say they are surprised to learn who is facing charges of leaving a pipe bomb in a school on Monday.

"I'm shocked that it's him. He doesn't seem like that at all -- that kind of person. He was just a normal kid at school," student Brooke McKee told CBS4.

CBS4 is not naming the suspect at this time. After arresting him at his home police would only say he is a 16-year-old student who attends the school.

The teen will make his first appearance in Boulder County Court on Wednesday afternoon. He currently faces felony charges that include possession of explosive parts and felony menacing and a misdemeanor charge of interfering with an educational institution by making a credible threat with a deadly weapon. There's also a chance he could be charged as an adult.

McKee said she saw the suspect shortly after the evacuation of the school.

"We were out in the field and he walked up to one of my friends and I and was like 'Do you guys know what's going on here?' And we said no and he just walked away," she said.

Several students including McKee were too nervous to return to the school on Tuesday when classes resumed.

"Apparently we heard he had more plans to bomb other times," she said.

School administrators say they are taking the case very seriously. The school's principal sent a letter to parents Tuesday notifying them of the arrest.

"I think that it's just a troubling incident any way you look at it, however the device got there is troubling," said Briggs Gamblin Boulder Valley School District spokesman.

Police say a teacher inside the school noticed a suspicious package on Monday morning and took it outside. After the school was cleared bomb squads moved in and authorities also did an extensive search of the campus.

Explosives specialists destroyed the device in a dirt field near the school but kept pieces of it for evidence. They said it's possible the pipe bomb could have been detonated remotely.

Authorities told CBS4 other explosives were found at the teenager's home.