Q.C. schoolyard explosion injures 8 students

Eight students were treated for chemical burns — and four of them were hospitalized — after a 15-year-old boy blew up a plastic bottle filled with a cleaning chemical at J.O. Combs Middle School in the Queen Creek area, sheriff’s deputies said.

Three of the four students who were transported to a nearby hospital were walking to class when the device exploded at 8:01 a.m. on the basketball court at the school, 37611 N. Pecan Creek Drive.

Authorities said the boy used either hydrogen chloride or hydrogen sulfide in a plastic bottle with aluminum foil, which exploded and burned the students’ arms and legs, said Steve Henry, deputy chief for the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office.

The boy, who is a ninth-grader, was arrested on suspicion of eight counts of aggravated assault, one count each of disorderly conduct, disposal of an explosive and disruption of an educational institution, according to Lt. Tamatha Villar, spokeswoman for the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office.

The boy, who was booked into the Pinal County Juvenile Detention Center, told authorities he had been experimenting with manufacturing explosives, and previous burn marks on his arms indicated that he had, Villar said.

“We’re not taking this lightly,” Henry said. “People don’t realize the danger of chemicals you can buy. We’re investigating the incident and don’t know at this time whether this was a prank or done deliberately.”

The student who brought the plastic bottle to school shook it and kicked it across the courtyard, causing it to burst and its contents to splash on several students,  Jan Langer, superintendent of the J.O. Combs Unified School District, said in a statement to employees.

At first, school staff thought the incident stemmed from recent school science experiments using vinegar and baking soda but soon realized the student manufactured the explosive device on his own, and it included a cleaning chemical inside the bottle, according to Henry.

School officials did not call 911, and authorities were not called to respond until nearly three hours later because there was some confusion about the incident being related to a school experiment, according to Bill Grubb, deputy chief for the Rural/Metro Fire Department.

“The kids who were involved in getting hit with the chemical from the incident were told to shower, but when school officials saw they had burn marks on them, they realized that it wasn’t the school’s experiment and this was more serious than a childish prank,” Grubb said.

Crews from the Queen Creek, Mesa and Chandler fire department’s hazardous materials teams also responded to the incident and assisted Rural/Metro Fire Department on the scene.

About 1,000 of the school’s students, seventh- through ninth-graders, were under a lockdown and later evacuated after the incident while sheriff’s deputies had canines search for other explosive devices, Henry said.

The students were taken to the district’s administrative offices, where parents could pick them up, Henry said. The students who were not picked up by their parents were expected to be brought home by a school bus when the school dismissed at 3:45 p.m., Henry said.

Tribune writer Hayley Ringle contributed to this report.