ATTACK PLANS OF 2 TEENS OUTLINED.

Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO Staff Writer

LANCASTER -- Two teenagers accused of planning a Columbine-style attack at Quartz Hill High School intended to target teens who had made fun of them or were mean to them, a sheriff's detective testified.

In a preliminary hearing Thursday at which 18-year-old Johnny Casas was ordered to stand trial for the alleged plot, Detective Steve Owen testified that Casas' younger co-defendant told him the teens had experimented with making bombs.

``He said they had planned to commit a Columbine-type assault on Quartz Hill High School where they would kill students who had been mean to them,'' Owen said. ``They had already made several different types of improvised explosive devices -- small pipe bombs, Molotov cocktails. They were also in the process of trying to collect funds to buy weapons, specifically rifles and guns to aid in the assault on students at Quartz Hill High School.''

They picked Valentine's Day 2006 as the day of the attack because that day had something to do with a song by shock rocker Marilyn Manson.

After the preliminary hearing Thursday in Antelope Valley Superior Court, Judge Christopher Estes ruled that prosecutors' evidence against Casas is sufficient to warrant a trial on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and possessing bomb-making ingredients.

Casas has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail at Sylmar Juvenile Hall.

Casas was 17 when he was arrested in December. A Juvenile Court judge ruled in April that Casas was unfit to be tried as a juvenile and should be tried in adult court. Casas' attorney, James Stevens, has appealed that decision.

Owen said a search of the younger boy's house turned up Internet material on how to make bombs, pipe bombs, explosives and grenades; the material was found next to a computer in a bedroom.

Other items found included a black trench coat, a gas mask, large black leather boots and pictures of Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, Charles Manson and ``other domestic terrorists,'' Owen said.

A search of Casas' home turned up five empty CO2 cartridges that had tips or air holes punched out, apparently by a nail, Owen said.

Deputy Gregory Chatman testified that Casas before his arrest denied any knowledge of the attack plan, but later admitted it after Chatman said he had been told about it by Casas' girlfriend.

Chatman described the younger boy, now 16, as ``the brains'' behind the plan. Owen and Chatman said the 16-year-old had been working at a Christmas tree lot to buy guns and gunpowder.

The 16-year-old, who was 15 when he was arrested, will be tried as a juvenile on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and making criminal threats. His trial is scheduled to begin this month in Lancaster Juvenile Court.

Authorities said the boys -- who dressed in the ``goth'' style characterized by black clothing and nail polish -- felt ostracized at Quartz Hill High and wanted to get revenge in a Valentine's Day attack.

The boys had been on probation in connection with a 2003 assault in which a 14-year-old boy was sodomized with a metal rod, deputies said.

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