Moorestown, New Jersey, student suspected of creating explosive material was working on science project, police say
An 18-year-old from Burlington County, New Jersey, is suspected of creating in Moorestown, authorities said.
Moorestown police said Sunday they first began investigating reports of the homemade explosives the day before. In an update Monday, a press release from the city said that police officers got a tip that a male Moorestown resident was visiting a friend's house on Cove Road on Saturday and allegedly brought the material to the home.
The New Jersey State Police Bomb Unit, Hazardous Materials Response Unit and the county's Hazardous Waste Department removed the materials, which were detonated at a nearby Public Works yard, according to police.
Neighbors said they heard and even felt the moment the authorities safely detonated the materials in Moorestown.
"I came outside and I heard the police say, 'fire in the hole!'" a neighbor told CBS News Philadelphia.
"And there was this huge boom that shook the house. It's just — it's disturbing that a kid so young would be doing this," another neighbor said.
"It was a science project that they were doing," Director of Police at Moorestown Police Department Patrick Reilly Jr. said. "We don't have all the specifics on that yet, but they weren't doing anything that would be in any way criminal. It dealt with a school project. And this individual came over with materials thinking he was going to help them with their project."
During a press conference Monday, Reilly said the suspect, who was 17 years old when the materials were allegedly created but turned 18 on Saturday, was trying to make fireworks as part of a school science project.
Police then obtained a warrant and searched the 18-year-old's home on East Oak Avenue, where more explosive materials were found in a basement lab and detonated "due to their volatility," the city said. People living in the area were asked to temporarily evacuate.
"Based on a search warrant, we were able to go in and located that he had a lab in the basement that had additional explosive material," Reilly said.
The Burlington County Sheriff's Department also searched Moorestown High School, where the 18-year-old is a student, and the upper elementary school, but didn't find anything.
Officials said the accused student, who is currently not in custody, didn't intend to use the explosives against any target or individuals.
"We do know that there was no targeted person, targeted area based on a social media scrub," Reilly said.
When asked where the suspect was and why he was not in custody, Reilly said the 18-year-old was "not available" and that federal authorities were currently tracking him.
Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to assist with the investigation over the weekend, including the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. Reilly said the task force took samples of the explosive materials to try to identify where they came from and how they were originally obtained.
The Burlington County Prosecutor's Office is overseeing the investigation and working to determine if criminal charges will be filed, according to police.
