Homemade bomb explodes at Escondido school for foster kids, officials say; teen arrested

San Diego County sheriff’s deputies have detained a teenage boy who allegedly detonated a plastic bottle bomb on a school campus in Escondido on Thursday morning, officials said.

The bomb exploded about 9:15 a.m. in some bushes and triggered a full lockdown of San Pasqual Academy, a sprawling campus for foster teens in a remote area between the San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park and Ramona.

No one was injured.

“It appears more prankish, but obviously very dangerous,” said Michael Workman, a San Diego County spokesman.

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The explosion was actually a close call for one teacher who found the bomb before it exploded, sheriff’s officials said in a statement.

The boy had made the bomb out of toilet bowl cleaner and aluminum foil that he placed in a plastic soda bottle, authorities said. A teacher passing by picked it up and the teenager warned the teacher to drop it, they said.

The bottle was tossed into the bushes where it exploded a few minutes later. The teen was arrested on suspicion of possessing a destructive device and was booked into juvenile hall, officials said.

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