Prosecutor says SC student to face WMD charge

CHESTERFIELD, S.C. (AP) — The acting U.S. attorney for South Carolina says a teenager accused of planning to bomb his high school will face a federal charge of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. The charge carries a possible life sentence.

Prosecutor Kevin McDonald said Tuesday that 18-year-old Ryan Schallenberger also will face two lesser federal charges stemming from his scheme to detonate explosives in a suicide attack on his high school.

The news came less than an hour before Schallenberger was to appear in a Chesterfield courtroom for a bond hearing.

Schallenberger was arrested Saturday after his parents called police because he had ordered 10 pounds of ammonium nitrate.

Police say they also discovered a hate-filled journal lauding the Columbine killers.

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