18-year-olds charged after police say they brought homemade “plasma cannon” to Greensboro school

WXII ^ | July 6, 2026 | Michael Pardee

[Ciaphas Cain]

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Two 18-year-olds are facing several charges after court documents say they had a homemade “plasma cannon” on the property of Smith High School in Greensboro.

Solomon Caravello-Bell and Chayce Harricharan were arrested July 5, according to a magistrate’s order filed in Guilford County.

Court documents show Caravello-Bell and Harricharan are charged with possession of a weapon of mass destruction, malicious use of an explosive to damage property, felony breaking and entering and possessing an explosive on educational property.

According to the magistrate’s order, investigators said the suspects had a homemade plasma cannon at Smith High School.

The court documents allege the device was used to burn a bush and damage a plexiglass door at the school.

The documents also allege Caravello-Bell and Harricharan broke into a building at 2407 S. Holden Road, which is the address for Smith High School, with the intent to commit a felony or larceny.

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TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: 40wattrange; chayceharricharan; guilfordcounty; itsscience; northcarolina; plasmacannon; science; solomoncaravellobell

[algore]

Yet another instance where clueless adults use big words like “weapon of mass destruction” without any idea what they actually mean.

Very Sad.

[Libloather]

Plasma cannons are not water cannons. It should be in the manual.

[Ronaldus Magnus]

I hope the judge dismisses the charges on the condition they both enroll in an accredited undergraduate engineering program.

[fwdude]

Just don’t cross the beams.

[Paladin2]

Why not just display same at the school Science Fair?

WTF is going on today?

[TheThirdRuffian]

I have doubts this was a plasma cannon.

If it was a man portable plasma cannon, sign them up with the department of war because they’ve made a major breakthrough.

[Jim W N]

Is it them again...?

[Az Joe]

My plasma cannon is workin just fine.

[Donbue]

Kids do the darnedest things. Here’s two smart kids with the gumption to build a plasma cannon. Yet, rather than commend and guide them, they’ll be hounded by the commie woke mob at their school. What a shame.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Now THAT is a science project! If they really built something like that, they could have won the Science Fair.

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Seriously, who knew this was a thing?

Plasma Cannon (Electrothermal Accelerator)

An experimental weapon that launches a projectile using a plasma discharge instead of chemical propellant.

How It Works

A large capacitor bank charges up, then discharges across electrodes at the breech. This ionizes a non-flammable propellant medium into superheated plasma, and the resulting rapid expansion pushes the projectile out at high speed.

Advantage

Since energy comes from electricity, velocity can be precisely tuned by adjusting power input, potentially exceeding the speed limits of conventional propellant burn rates.

Disadvantage

Weight. Even a small unit with air-gun-level power is roughly 20 kg without its power supply, making it impractical for infantry. It would need to be vehicle- or emplacement-mounted.

Can a Hobbyist Make a Plasma Cannon?

Short answer: not really a practical "cannon," but the underlying phenomenon (electrothermal plasma acceleration) does show up in hobbyist/DIY high-voltage projects in a much tamer form — think coilguns and railguns, which are related but distinct concepts, rather than true plasma-discharge cannons.

A few reasons a genuine plasma-powered cannon is a poor hobbyist project:

• Power requirements are extreme. Even a small unit needs a capacitor bank storing several kilojoules discharged almost instantaneously — that's enough energy to cause severe injury or death if mishandled, arc unpredictably, or ignite nearby materials.
• Electrode erosion and materials science. The electrodes have to survive repeated superheated plasma arcs without rapidly eroding or fusing — this is a nontrivial materials engineering problem that stumps even funded research programs.
• Weight and infrastructure. Even air-gun-power versions weigh around 20 kg before you add the power supply — you're looking at a bench-mounted rig with serious electrical infrastructure, not something built in a garage over a weekend.
• Legal status. Depending on jurisdiction, a device designed to launch projectiles via this kind of energetic discharge could be legally treated the same as a firearm or worse, regardless of "hobbyist" intent.

Coilguns and railguns are the more common DIY high-voltage projectile projects, though they still involve serious high-voltage/high-current hazards and aren't something to approach casually.

[HP8753]

They should have referred to it as a “ GCD -Gender Changing Device”. The school may have given them an award.

[lastchance]

If only they had included a 3 sided poster board. Then they could have submitted it as their science project. Of course they would not have gotten full credit since it was turned in late.

[sit-rep]

Was it in the 40 WATT range?

[Ciaphas Cain]

I was just waiting for someone to say that ;-)

[frank ballenger]

to burn a bush... 🔥👟👟

And then they removed their shoes. On holy ground.

[MeanWestTexan]

Just what you see, son.

[frank ballenger]

...impractical for infantry. It would need to be vehicle- or emplacement-mounted.

Which is why high powered street intersection takeover cars were invented.

[spokeshave]

Its all OK..there was a crack in the dilithium crystal.

[piasa]

These juvies are getting the book thrown at them but probably nothing will happen to the juvies that attacked the cop.