My take on this is that a kid was going to set off a bomb near his school. Later he could show everyone the hole or just enjoy everyone talking about it.
He was bent over his bomb getting everything ready when it went off prematurely. That explains the missing head.
Young kids can create bombs, I did years ago. My best friend and I made all kinds of explosives, even pipe bombs back in the ‘70s. We also make contact explosives. Somehow we survived all this and became engineers.
The amazing part is that ALL of one’s direct ancestors managed to survive to at least the age of procreation. What are the odds of that?
My boyfriend's best friend in high school used to make bombs back in the 70's, we'd blow stuff up in a field. He also had a bad habit of pocketing everyone's lighters, so I teased him about being a "pyro-cleptic" ; )