KARE 11 WASECA, Minn. - The teen accused in an elaborate plot to bomb his school in Waseca and kill his family has struck a plea deal in the high-profile case.
John LaDue, 17 years old at the time of the planned bombing and now 18, plead guilty to one felony county of possession of explosives in connection with a bomb authorities recovered from the bedroom of the family home. As part of the plea agreement five similar counts will be dismissed, and LaDue will be sent to a secure treatment facility for autism spectrum disorder patients. He'll then go to a halfway house.
Sentencing is scheduled for October 19.
The alleged plot began unraveling in late March of 2014, when two homemade explosives were discovered in the melting snow outside an elementary school in Waseca. Two additional bombs were discovered in subsequent days. A few weeks later a resident of Waseca called 911 to report a suspicious teen going in and out of a storage unit with a backpack. Police executed search warrants on the storage unit and LaDue's home and found an arsenal of bomb making materials and weapons.
At the police station LaDue detailed an elaborate plot that started with murdering his mother, father and sister with a .22 caliber firearm. LaDue then planned to go to a remote area outside Waseca to start fires that would pull first-responders out of town. At that time, investigators say, LaDue planned to go to the middle and high school campus during lunch and set off pressure cooker bombs to kill students. When the school police liaison officer responded, LaDue planned to shoot him, and then open fire on more students.
Police say LaDue told them he was fascinated by the school shootings at Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech and Columbine, and idolized Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.
