SAN DIEGO - University City High School went into lockdown for about 20 minutes Wednesday after students used dry ice to blow up a plastic bottle in a campus patio during their lunch break.
The small non-injury blast at the Genesee Avenue secondary school was reported about 12:30 p.m., San Diego Unified School District spokesman Jack Brandais said.
Administrators kept all students indoors while school police searched the campus for any other devices, Brandais said. None were found.
A short time later, officers arrested two 14-year-old boys suspected of setting off the makeshift bomb. The youths admitted filling the small plastic water container with dry ice that one of them had brought to school to use in his science class, according to police.
Each of the boys is expected to face a felony charge of using a destructive device on school grounds, said Maurice Luque, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
It was the second time in five days that a so-called "bottle bomb" has been set off at a high school in the city. On Friday, five such devices exploded in trash cans at San Ysidro High School.
Though neither incident resulted in injuries, such acts are inherently hazardous to life and limb, Luque noted.
"This is not a prank," he said. "This is criminal activity, and it's going to be pursued as such. It's just too dangerous to pursue any other way."
No Charges
SAN DIEGO - Prosecutors declined Tuesday to file charges against an 18-year-old scholar-athlete accused of setting off five bottle bombs at San Ysidro High School last week, citing the need for more investigation.
Elphbert Laforteza, a senior, was booked into jail Friday night, hours after the bottle-bombs went off in trash barrels during lunch.
He will be released from custody pending further investigation, said spokesman Paul Levikow of the San Diego County District Attorney's Office.
More arrests are anticipated and charges could be brought at a later date, Levikow said.
Besides the five crude homemade chemical bombs that exploded, three others were disabled by the bomb squad and officers found four others partially assembled in Laforteza's backpack, according to authorities.
"Bombs just started going off at lunch," said Konn, a senior at San Ysidro High. Konn was next to one of the trash cans that blew its lid.
"When I heard the first one go off, I was kind of shocked but I just knew it was a senior prank," Konn said. "I don't think the people that did this intended to harm anyone since it was in the trash cans."
San Diego Fire officials responded quickly. Fire spokesman Maurice Luque says this could have been a very serious situation.
"These bombs, when they go off, can kill or seriously maim somebody," said Luque. "This is not kind of a child's play kind of thing. These are felony charges that the student has been arrested on."
Principal Espinoza was surprised when he heard Laforteza was responsible. "He's an outstanding student on his way to graduate with honors. One of those unfortunate situations -- very, very, intelligent young man -- used very poor judgment."
Nobody was injured and no property was damaged in the explosions.
Laforteza told investigators he had brought a dozen of the bottle bombs to the Airway Road campus, said Maurice Luque, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
Laforteza was an all-league football player and an ROTC cadet. He had applied but had not been admitted to the Air Force Academy, a spokesman for the Air Force said.
San Ysidro High Principal Hector Espinoza said Laforteza will receive his diploma but will not be allowed to graduate with his class on Thursday.
"He wanted to go out, if you will, with a bang -- so, he definitely got what he was looking for," said Espinoza.
