Posted on 02/16/2005 3:11:19 PM PST by Ellesu
Student faces federal charges
— An 18-year-old student faces federal charges after a fire at Lake Park West High School in northwest suburban Roselle. Classes were canceled Wednesday at the school, 500 W. Bryn Mawr, as a precaution. No one was injured. School will resume on Thursday.
Gianluca DeMarco faces charges of unlawful possession of a destructive device and causing malicious damage. He was released on a $100,000 bond secured by his parents' Itasca home. He was placed under house arrest with an electronic monitoring bracelet.
His father, Jarry DeMarco, a restaurant owner, told reporters in the courthouse lobby that his son was plagued by bad grades, hated school and had tried to drop out. But he said he and his wife had forced their son to go back to school.
He said the teen planted the explosive device in his locker at Lake Park High School because he was trying to get expelled and never thought he might be charged with a federal crime.
"He made his bed and now he has to lie in it," the father said. "He's not a bad kid. He wouldn't hurt anybody."
Police said he carried two small bottles of liquid accelerant -- possibly gasoline -- into the building Wednesday morning inside two backpacks. One of the backpacks was set inside the suspect's locker and then lit on fire around 7:40 a.m. Faculty members used fire extinguishers to put out the blaze, which was confined to the locker. The other bottle of accelerant was found unused inside the second backpack.
"I have not seen the backpack. What's left is charred. Our investigation will help to determine that, but we have no information there was any sort of remote triggering device or timer or anything like that. It would seem to be a manual device," said Chief Thomas Roman, Roselle Police Dept.
"We have security cameras installed in all of the hallways, so we are able to review that footage to determine exactly what happened. That is exactly what's going on right now," said Terry Ryan, District 108.
"What's so scary to me is I was at my locker, and I was in the hallway, and I was there two minutes before it went off. I would have been right there. And I don't understand. I think I get along pretty well with a lot of people at the school, but that someone would do this. You could seriously hurt someone with that," said one student.
Police found no other accelerant in the building but they plan to do a thorough search.
Police said DeMarco admitted to A.T.F. agents that he brought gas-filled bottles to school and used a match to set the one on fire. He did not tell them why.
"It's complicated to understand a very, very young man with a loving, supportive family and he's never been in any trouble before," said Carolyn Gurland, suspect's attorney.
About 1,400 students -- all juniors and seniors -- attend Lake Park West High School. They were sent to the Roselle Park District Clauss Recreational Center, 555 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., where they stayed for about an hour until school officials determined it would take longer than expected to secure the building and the problem, said District 108 Supt. Joe Butts.
Classes will resume at Lake Park West High School on Thursday.
Whenever possible we should post what major city in the first comment, thanks in advance!
I sure will try. The city mentioned was in the first sentence of the article, but I'm in Louisiana and don't know nuttin' 'bout Illinois. LOL.
Small city names don't mean much to most of us, thanks for the post though!!!
Thank You.
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