Prosecutor says S.C. student to face WMD charge

CHESTERFIELD, S.C. — The acting U.S. attorney for South Carolina says a teenager accused of planning to bomb his high school will face a federal charge of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. The charge carries a possible life sentence.

Prosecutor Kevin McDonald says 18-year-old Ryan Schallenberger also will face two lesser federal charges stemming from his scheme to detonate explosives in a suicide attack on his high school in Chesterfield, a town in northeastern South Carolina.

The news came less than an hour before Schallenberger was to appear in court for a bond hearing.

Schallenberger was arrested Saturday after his parents called police because he had ordered 10 pounds of ammonium nitrate.

Police say they also discovered a hate-filled journal lauding the Columbine killers.