2 Students Charged With Plot to Kill Principal, Spark Explosion at Md. School

In a letter to parents, Principal Michael Durso described the situation as serious.

"We learned yesterday of plans being made that could have resulted in damage to the building as well as potential harm to students and staff," he wrote.

Officials said they knew of no motive.

"There doesn't seem to be any precipitating event," said Jerry D. Weast, the county's school superintendent. "That is one of the mysteries that we want to solve."

He praised a police officer assigned to the school for knowing one of the suspects well enough that the student ultimately confided in him. "It's truly about relationships," Weast said.

The alleged plans came to light Tuesday when the two were stopped while leaving the school, allegedly after setting a fire in a hallway near an ROTC room. Torrence gave the school police officer extensive information about the plans, police said.

According to police, Torrence said the two planned to beat a female guidance counselor with a bag containing rocks and nails. They also planned to maximize harm from a fire they would start by stuffing paper into air vents and disabling the school's sprinkler system, Torrence allegedly said.

In an interview, Torrence's mother said her son has a learning disorder and was manipulated by Getachew into doing things he would not have done otherwise.

"He's a sheltered child," Andrea Torrence, 48, said of her son. "He has his problems when it comes to understanding things, but he's never been in any trouble before in his life."

No one answered the door yesterday at the red-brick townhouse in White Oak where Getachew lives.

Andrea Torrence said her son told her that Getachew was teaching him to shoplift and had forced him to type a threatening letter to a school staff member. At the school Tuesday, she said, Getachew showed her son how to spray lighter fluid onto the ceiling. At one point, she said, Getachew set fire to lighter fluid on the floor, and her son stomped the fire out.

In the past month, the two students twice set fires in bathrooms at the school, police said.

About 2 a.m. yesterday, Andrea Torrence said, seven or eight officers in SWAT gear arrived at her two-bedroom apartment. Police searched her son's room and took his computer, cellphone and a letter addressed to him from a hobby store, Torrence said.

At the school yesterday, several students spoke highly of Durso, the principal, and Camille Basoco, the guidance counselor.

"The targets are very surprising . . . seeing as though Ms. Basoco is known for her kindness and personality, as well as Mr. Durso," said junior Ebony Turner, 16.

Staff writer Daniel de Vise and staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.