Teen who lost thumbs after homemade explosive went off in high school charged
NEWAYGO - A 16-year-old student who lost both thumbs after his homemade explosive went off in a high school classroom in western Michigan has been charged.
A homemade explosive was taken March 8 to Newaygo High School and accidentally detonated, police said.
A preliminary hearing for the teen was held Wednesday. He is charged with manufacture/possession of a Molotov cocktail or similar device and possession of a weapon in a weapon-free school zone, the Newaygo County prosecutor’s office said.
A homemade explosive was taken March 8 to Newaygo High School and accidentally detonated, police said.
The teen, four other students and a teacher were hurt.
His father, David Saylor, was charged in state and federal courts with a variety of crimes, including possession of unregistered explosives.
A child welfare investigator, Jessica Held, has told a judge that police don’t believe the boy wanted to harm others.
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He "brought it to school to show friends when it went off in his hands," Held told a Newaygo County Probate Court judge last month.
The teen was suspended from school.
Newaygo is 35 miles (56.3 kilometers) north of Grand Rapids.