Alabama Teen Pleads Guilty to Racist High School Bomb Threat
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, May 2, 2014
How did all this unfold?
A teacher found a notebook left behind by the teen, in which he had written a detailed plot for bombing the school, and named students who he would kill.
“Shrout allegedly named and targeted five black students and a black teacher for serious harm in a series of bomb attacks, using improvised hand grenades that authorities say he was assembling in his military family’s home. A white classmate, who Shrout suspected of being gay, was also on the alleged hit list.
“The authorities were alerted to the journal and Shrout was arrested and charged with felony attempted assault. “By his own admission, he is a white supremacist, but we haven’t been able to link him to any specific organization or any organization to him,” Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor told the Intelligence Report in an interview about Shrout and his plans, which Shrout had “obviously put a lot of thought into.”
“When sheriff’s investigators searched the teenager’s home they discovered a couple of dozen small tobacco cans and two larger metal containers marked “Fat Boy” and “Little Man.” The names are apparent references to the code names “Fat Man” and “Little Boy” used for the atomic bombs dropped on Japan by the United States during World War II. All of the containers were filled with pellets and had holes drilled in them. Sheriff Taylor said other ingredients needed to complete the devices, such as black powder and fuses, were not found.
“Still, the explosive devices were just “a step or two away from being ready to explode” and would have caused serious damage or injuries, the sheriff said.
“The teenager’s lawyer, Jeremy Armstrong, told reporters that the case against Shrout “is an overreaction” sparked by last December’s mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.”
Kudos to the teacher.
Kudos to Law Enforcement for preventing a tragedy.
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Russell County teen pleads guilty in plot to bomb classmates
By TIM CHITWOOD
tchitwood@ledger-enquirer.com
May 1, 2014
The Russell County teenager accused last year of plotting to build bombs with which to attack his high school classmates has pleaded guilty and asked for probation.
Derek Shrout, 17, leaves the courtroom at the Russell County Courthouse Monday afternoon after Judge Albert Johnson set bond at $75,000. He was arrested for allegedly planning to use homemode explosives on fellow students at Russell County High School. – Joe Paull jpaull@ledger-enquirer.com
Court records released this week show Derek Mathew Shrout pleaded guilty to attempted assault in the first degree before Circuit Judge Al Johnson on April 11. His sentencing is set for 9 a.m. July 11 at the Russell County Judicial Center.
Represented by Phenix City attorney Jeremy Armstrong, Shrout is seeking five years’ probation and a fine of $2,000, plus $100 to go to the Victim’s Compensation Fund, records show.
Prosecutors said Johnson may sentence Shrout, now 19, as the judge sees fit, possibly giving the defendant some time in prison along with probation or a straight prison term.
Derek Shrout, age 17, Police Jail Picture
Shrout was a 17-year-old Russell County High School student when a history teacher in January 2013 found a notebook allegedly detailing his plans to make homemade bombs.
School administrators questioned Shrout and reported the discovery to sheriff’s investigators, who searched Shrout’s home in Fort Mitchell with his parents’ consent.
Sheriff Heath Taylor said the search turned up about two dozen snuff or metal tobacco cans with hard plastic pellets inside and holes drilled through them for fuses, plus two rectangular metal cans about 3 inches tall and wide and 10 inches long. But investigators found no fuses, and no explosive powder nor any other charge that would fuel a blast.
Had the homemade devices been completed as Shrout described in his journal, they could have caused serious injury, the sheriff said. His officers loaded one, inserted a fuse and tested it at a firing range, and it did explode, propelling the pellets like shrapnel, he said.
Authorities said Shrout described himself as a white supremacist. “He has a lot of pent-up anger toward blacks,” Taylor said.
A classmate alleged Shrout left the words “white power” and Nazi symbols scrawled on a school desk, and was known to shout “White power!” and form a “W” with his fingers and hold them to his heart.
Derek Shrout, 17, gets lead into the courtroom at the Russell County Courthouse Monday afternoon after being arrested for allegedly planning to use homemode explosives on fellow students at Russell County High School. – Joe Paull jpaull@ledger-enquirer.com
Arrested Jan. 4, 2013, Shrout initially faced a second charge of “manufacturing a weapon of mass destruction,” but court records show he will not be prosecuted for that.
Shrout, who reports showed was born in Manassas, Va., before his family moved to Fort Mitchell, told authorities the writing in his journal was mere fiction. His attorney said Shrout had no intention of harming anyone.
Derek Shrout, 17, leaves the courtroom at the Russell County Courthouse Monday afternoon after Judge Albert Johnson set bond at $75,000. He was arrested for allegedly planning to use homemode explosives on fellow students at Russell County High School. – Joe Paull jpaull@ledger-enquirer.com
The attorney said authorities overreacted because of the Dec. 14, 2012, Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn., where a 20-year-old man killed six adults and 20 students ages 6 to 7.
Warm Southern Breeze 
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