Student Arrested for Bomb Materials - New York Times

Student Arrested for Bomb Materials - New York Times

By JOHN SULLIVAN

Published: March 6, 2008

A freshman at the University of California Davis has been arrested after the campus police found what they said were explosive materials in his dorm room, university officials said Thursday morning.

The student, Mark Christopher Woods, 19, of Torrance, Calif., was arrested on Wednesday night, the campus police said.

The police went to Mr. Woods’ third-floor room in one of the buildings in the Tercero Residence Halls at about 9 p.m. after receiving a telephone call from a woman reporting the presence of the materials. Lisa Lapin, a university spokeswoman, said the police found partially assembled pipe bombs or pyrotechnics, but nothing had been fully assembled.

University police said there was no indication of any connection to terrorism and no wider threat to safety on the campus.

The police officers evacuated the building and summoned the bomb squad. Explosives experts were packing up and removing the material from the dormitory room on Thursday morning.

University officials evacuated more than 400 students from seven nearby dorms after the material was found. The students, who spent the night in a nearby dining hall, were expected to be allowed to return sometime Thursday morning. No injuries were reported.

“We evacuated students as a precaution,” Fred Wood, vice chancellor for student affairs, said in a statement. “We do not expect further disruption to the university.”

University officials said that Mr. Woods, an economics major, has cooperated with the police. Ms. Lapin said that Mr. Woods’ roommate said that Mr. Woods did not intend to injury anyone “but is a very curious person who liked to experiment.”

The University of California Davis has about 30,000 students and is part of the California state university system.