Archived Edition: April 25, 2007 | Back to Current	Sep 10, 2010

Students face bomb charges
Shannon Chiu - Executive Editor

As of yesterday, three male first-years have been charged by the Williamstown Police Department (WPD) in connection with a homemade explosive device found on Cole Field on Sunday morning, April 15.

The Northern Berkshire District Court will conduct a show-cause hearing later this week to determine whether or not to file the charges submitted by the police. These charges include one felony count of possession of infernal machine and one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct for each student. According to Scott McGowan, WPD sergeant, if jail-time should be administered, the maximum penalty – based on WPD’s charges – is ten years in prison or two-and-a-half years in a county facility. The maximum fine for each student is $1000.

McGowan noted that the fact that the perpetrators were students was not a factor for the police during their investigation. Charges would remain the same for non-student offenders.

The names of the responsible party will be disclosed after the completion of the summons, according to the clerk’s office at the Northern Berkshire District Court.

The three students will also be facing disciplinary actions from the College. Although Dean Roseman declined to comment on the specifics of this case, she said that sanctions could range from verbal reprimands to expulsion. To her knowledge, there have not been any similar incidents in recent years upon which the administration can base its judgment.

“We just finished the investigation [on Monday] and will make a decision in the coming week,” Roseman said.

Campus Security notified WPD at approximately 12:52 a.m. on Sunday, April 15, when an Officer spotted a small fire in the southwest corner of Cole Field. They found an ignited device that had failed to detonate, WPD chief Kyle Johnson said in a press statement. The police declined to reveal the type of explosive and materials used to assemble it.

“It wasn’t an actual device, but just a combination of substances that, as Sergeant McGowan has pointed out, would not have resulted in an explosion,” said Jean Thorndike, director of security.

As with all fire-related incidents, WPD immediately contacted the Massachusetts State Fire Marshal Office and the state’s Crime Prevention and Control (CPAC) unit. Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were called in the following day on Monday.

“We decided to reach out to the FBI at that point, based on our computers’ identification of the ‘device’ we located on Cole Field,” McGowan said. He explained that since 9/11, any incident involving an explosive device generally requires FBI’s active participation.

With the assistance of the FBI, the police traced the purchased materials for the explosive to a local store and identified the name of one suspect. After confirming this name with that of a student at the College, security made contact with the student and brought him to the WPD, Thorndike said.

The names of the remaining two students associated with this incident were determined afterward “through the interview process and cooperation of the involved party,” McGowan said.

Given the severity of the incident, many have questioned why the police delayed their notification. On the one hand, there was strong evidence, at the onset of the investigation, to suggest that this was not an act of domestic violence or an attempt to harm any individual on campus or in town, according to McGowan.

But on the other, it was crucial to withhold all information in order not to interfere with the ongoing efforts to identify the responsible party for this incident, he said.

Furthermore, “We did not want to go public with more questions than answers to avoid a widespread panic and any copycat scenarios,” Johnson told iBerkshires.com last Friday.

“It’s very important for everyone to know that the case was very seriously investigated,” McGowan said. “But at no time at all, was any student, faculty or resident of the community endangered.”

Although the incident occurred less than a day before the traumatic event at Virginia Tech, McGowan maintained that they would not have investigated the case any differently.However, he conceded that it did gain a lot of attention because of the events at Virginia Tech.

During the investigation, the police had also ruled out any connection to the upcoming anniversaries of the April 19, 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the Columbine High School shootings of April 20, 1999.

“From the initial interviews, the police and FBI felt assured that this was experimentation or curiosity on the students’ part,” Thorndike said. Even if the students had succeeded in setting off the device, no buildings on campus were close enough to suffer any damages, McGowan added.

That this incident was likely a prank did not make it any less dangerous, especially for the three first-years. The materials that the students used were “at the amateur level that can be very dangerous, handling-wise,” McGowan said.

“The fact that they were unable to detonate the device – which is a good thing – proves that their knowledge of the materials is not well-versed.”



Culprits for Agard fire still

unidentified



Although investigators were initially led to believe that the two fire incidents at Cole Field and the driveway of Agard House were related, FBI and WPD currently have strong evidence that the two events are completely separate.

An Officer reported a small fire near Agard to the WPD at 2:45 a.m. on Saturday, April 14, approximately 24 hours before the incident on Cole Field. A suspicious device was located. The concurrent investigations of the materials found at Agard and Cole Field suggested, at first, that the event on Sunday was a progression, or “higher level of experimentation,” from that of the previous evening, McGowan said.

But “to compare the evidence from both sites would be like comparing apples to oranges,” he said.

Since last Thursday, based on the FBI’s involvement and results from WPD’s investigation, the police were confident that the event at Agard was not a situation of domestic violence. The FBI has left the case in the state’s hands.

No new information has been reported at this point. “Although all leads have petered out, we are still working on it,” Thorndike said.



No serious arson cases in

recent years



Notwithstanding minor, infrequent fire-related incidents on the College’s campus over the years, the most significant arson case dates back to October 1988, according to McGowan.

The event took place in the lower Mission parking lot, where a group of individuals attempted to destroy 85 vehicles. Three cars caught on fire. One of the cars, which was used as a fuse, was “burnt to a shell,” according to the Oct. 25, 1988 issue of the Record.

A total of eight fuel tanks were punctured, and police had evidence that the arsonists attempted to puncture others. A 30-lb propane tank was also placed in a jeep next to one of the burning vehicles. The tank failed to explode, and the jeep sustained fire damage only.

In addition, the perpetrators hotwired a school bus, blocked the driveway to the lot and removed the ignition from the bus to hamper the fire department’s response.

While no individual was harmed, the incident caused significant damage, McGowan said. “Unfortunately, those who were responsible were never found,” he said.



Virginia Tech events produce ripple effect



Although neither incident at Agard nor Cole Field constituted acts of domestic violence, a string of copycat threats have besieged campuses nationwide since the massacre at Virginia Tech last Monday, forcing lock-downs and/or evacuations. Last Thursday, the Berkshire Community College (BCC) received two bomb threats that targeted its campuses in Pittsfield and Great Barrington.

At 10:53 a.m. last Thursday, minutes before the campus gathered for a moment of silence for the Virginia Tech victims, BCC school officials were notified of a bomb threat written on a bathroom stall in the school’s West Street campus in Pittsfield. Campus administration discussed the situation with emergency personnel and decided to evacuate the entire campus, according to the press release from the state police public affairs unit.

About two hours later, a male suspect called the South County Center, BCC’s second campus in Great Barrington, and said that a bomb had been placed inside the building. The 13,000 square-foot satellite campus was evacuated in 30 minutes.

BCC campus security, state police and fire department officers did not find suspicious devices at either site. Classes resumed on Friday.

“It’s just unthinkable, if this is a prank, that [someone] would do something like this. But we have to [respond] to what we’re hearing and seeing, and we’re trying to be safety conscious,” BCC administrator Jeff Doscher told NewsChannel 13, WNYT, last Thursday.

BCC held an all-college meeting last Friday to discuss the school’s response to the threats and evaluate its emergency response plan. Another college-wide meeting will be held tomorrow for faculty, staff and students to talk about vigilance and implications of recent threats.