Cops Found Bomb Materials in Shooter's Home in 2006

John Zawahri had threatened classmates when police searched house
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 12, 2013 8:50 AM CDT
Cops Found Bomb Materials in Shooter's Home in 2006
This photo provided on Sunday, June 9, 2013, by the Santa Monica Police Department shows John Zawahri, 23, who police have identified as the shooter in Friday's deadly rampage at Santa Monica College.   (AP Photo/Santa Monica Police Department)

A disturbing clue from the Santa Monica gunman's past: In 2006, police found bomb-making materials in John Zawahri's home. They searched the house after Zawahri threatened students at his high school, according to a member of the Santa Monica-Malibu school board who lived next-door to Zawahri's father, Samir. The school district superintendent confirms that Zawahri was removed from his continuation high school that year due to a risk of violence, the Los Angeles Times reports.

One of his teachers noticed "disturbing behaviors," including Zawahri talking about weapons and threatening students, which is when police were alerted. Around that time, they found the pipe bomb materials, and the school board was briefed. Earlier this week, one of Zawahri's teachers recalled that a student told him Zawahri had invited the student to his house, showed him a sword, and named specific students he wanted to hurt. He was taken to a psychiatric ward after that incident, but was not there long. Click for more on the Zawahri family's dark past. (More John Zawahri stories.)

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