By Minneapolis Star Tribune

WASECA — The Waseca County’s Attorney’s Office filed a motion Friday asking that a 17-year-old Waseca High student who planned to set off bombs and go on a shooting spree at his school be charged as an adult.

John David LaDue, who police say outlined his plot in chilling detail and backed it up with a cache of guns and homemade explosives, is already charged as a juvenile with four counts of attempted murder, two counts of first-degree damage to property and six counts of possession of a bomb by someone under 18. Adult charges against LaDue are expected to be addressed at his next court appearance, on May 12, said Waseca County prosecutor Brenda Miller.

At Waseca High School, which was closed Friday due to a scheduled staff development day, the mood was “various levels of somber,” said Superintendent Thomas Lee. While students stayed home from school and police continued investigating, faculty and administrators talked about addressing students, parents and the community in general.

Lee said that some teachers openly struggled, asking, “How could I have missed this?” Others walked around in stunned disbelief. Still others were “beating themselves up,” Lee said.

There also were sighs of relief.

“We were grateful that we avoided something,” Lee said, referring to LaDue’s alleged plans. “Now we’re finalizing plans, asking, ‘What are we going to do? How are we going to talk to kids and let everyone know that they’re safe and that we’re here to listen to them?’”

There was particular concern for LaDue’s sister, Valerie, 18, a senior at the high school. Valerie LaDue attended school Thursday, after her brother’s arrest, Lee said.

“Measures will be taken to make sure she feels comfortable,” Lee said. “We’re doing everything possible to support her. We told the family that she has the option to take individual study, or a home-based tutor. The family indicated that she wants to come back to school.

“This is a strong community that has faced tragedy and adversity before,” Lee said. “But I was in that courtroom (Thursday) and saw the family. I can only imagine what they’re going through. We’re a resilient community, but this is tough.”

The school district is planning a community meeting at 5:30 p.m. and was offering tips on its website for how to talk to students about the news and watch for signs of trauma. Lee said there will be counselors available to students Monday.

Police declined to offer any new details on the investigation into John LaDue’s foiled plan to attack the schools in homage to the Columbine High School shootings 15 years ago. It’s unknown how LaDue was able to obtain seven guns. He also had built up a stockpile of bomb-making materials, including chemicals, other materials and 60 pounds of ball bearings that he apparently planned to pack into exploding pressure cookers.

According to charges filed Thursday, LaDue told police he planned to kill his mother, father and sister and then create a diversion to keep first responders busy while he went to Waseca Junior/Senior High School to wreak havoc.

After his arrest Tuesday, the high school junior said he intended to kill “as many students as he could” before being killed by the SWAT team, according to charging documents filed in Waseca County District Court.

At the LaDue home on Fourth Avenue SE in Waseca, a friend of the family who answered the door Friday said LaDue’s parents, David and Stephanie LaDue, had no comment. Jennifer Persell, the mother of one of LaDue’s friends who reportedly rented a storage unit where he prepped some of his bomb-making materials, told a reporter she’d been instructed not to comment by police.

Parents throughout the town were shaken and shocked as they began to hear details of LaDue’s plot.

“It’s just too scary to put in words,” said a parent who has kids in Waseca’s middle school and high school but asked that her name not be used. “Everybody in town feels sick to their stomach. Scared. There were tears today.”

Police Capt. Kris Markeson said that he believes LaDue would have carried out his murderous plot “just because of the amount of preparation and thought he put into this.”

LaDue had planned and practiced for 10 months, refining the chemicals in his bombs to try to find a more lethal combination. He set off “practice bombs” on the playground at Hartley Elementary School, Faith United Methodist Church, Oak Park and high school softball fields. Some of those bombs were found in March, raising concerns.

The criminal complaint said LaDue told police that he originally planned the attack for April 20, the anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre that killed 13 people in Littleton, Colo., in 1999.

But it turned out that day was Easter Sunday and there was no school.

Markeson said police believe the attack would have happened “within the next few weeks” if it hadn’t been for an alert 911 caller who grew suspicious after she saw a tall, white male wearing a backpack open a storage unit, go inside and close the door.

Chelsie Schellhas was washing dishes Tuesday night when she noticed a boy with a backpack and a fast-food bag walking through her backyard toward the nearby MiniMax Storage Units.

“He walked through the puddles when there was a perfectly good road he could have walked on,” she said. “It just didn’t seem right to me because we see people come and go with their trucks, and they don’t come on foot and cut through people’s backyards. It was like he was blatantly trying not to be seen. That’s why I thought it was odd.”

According to the complaint, three Waseca officers were sent to the storage facility at 7:24 p.m., where they arrested LaDue.

In a second interview with the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, LaDue talked about his notebook. In his first journal entry on July 24, 2013, LaDue listed a detailed plan for killing his family, school liaison officer Jared Chrz and students. Over the nine months covered in the notebook, he never changed those plans.

LaDue was described by Lee, the superintendent, as a “good kid” who was quiet and a B student who made the honor roll. He was never in trouble at school and never had any dealings with Chrz, Lee said.

Ryan Lano, who taught guitar to LaDue for four years, was left “totally shocked.”

“John was normal in every aspect. He was courteous. … He asked questions and followed instructions very well. He loved music and his guitar and did really well. He was polite and said thank you after every lesson.”

Three sets of neighbors across the street from the LaDue home recalled seeing him outside almost every day throwing knives and axes at a tall pine tree in the front yard.