Memphis High School Prank Explosion Forces Evacuation, 1 Sent To Hospital

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Police say two students have been taken into custody after two chemical-filled bottles exploded at a Memphis high school.

Memphis police said in a news release Thursday night that two 18-year-old students of Craigmont High School were charged with aggravated assault, felony reckless endangerment and possession of a prohibited weapon.

The high school was evacuated just before noon in what school authorities called a prank explosion. Officials say an assistant principal with asthma went to the hospital after inhaling smoke produced by the mixture. Police said a bomb threat had been called in to the school beforehand.

Shortly after, another bottle exploded about 15 miles away outside a Kroger grocery store. Kroger spokesman Joe Bell says a customer accidentally left behind a bottle with dry ice. No one was injured.

Comments

[liberalbarbwire]

05:15 PM on 05/04/2012

Memphis Memphis Memphis Memphis .. what a hell whole city...lived there all my life till I got married...

[geddy lee is a god]

03:39 PM on 06/26/2012

I understand your sentiments. Born in Boston, grew up in Memphis (Midtown), now living in Seattle. One of the best decisions I ever made.

[smp276dp]

07:37 AM on 05/04/2012

18 year old and I bet he is a sophomore hahahahaha

[SickOfBarf]

12:57 AM on 05/04/2012

Those were "pranks"???

The Daddys in this picture need to get their belts after those little you-know-whats.

[victorzeller]

12:46 AM on 05/04/2012

Yet another story about the Clueless Generation.

[PhloxJeana]

03:30 PM on 06/26/2012

I'd like to agree, but these type of pranks have been going on forever. But it was usually stink bombs. Back then, if the perps were caught, they were suspended. In this day and age with zero tolerance, they're expelled. I can't say I agree with expulsion becuase kids are stupid by nature. They can't foresee the consequences of their actions. These kids clearly didn't know they'd be expelled. They also didn't foresee that there might have been a panic started and kids could've been hurt trying to escape the building or that the firecrakcer might've gone off close to someone and hurt them. Unless fireworks are illegal in that city, I think this is a pretty harsh and absolute punishment when adults play with fireworks all the time. Kids can't distinguish what's reasonable behavior and what isn't. They ought to have knots jerked in their tails, but expelling them just makes them more likely to fail in life.

[mrgmorgan56]

12:25 AM on 05/04/2012

That was someones head exploding after they reached the IQ level of 80....must have been in the Memphis government.

[lynniemiller]

10:57 PM on 05/03/2012

Sad. thank goodness no one was badly injured.

[most reasonable]

10:47 PM on 05/03/2012

TeaBaggers in training.

[baldbiker2]

10:46 PM on 05/03/2012

Oh oh oh, I saw the link to the story and saw Tennessee, but when I opened it, it was just in Memphis, whew, I thought maybe it was some upstanding, credible High School in Tennessee. Memphis public schools? Theyre trying to ditch their charter and unload the schools on Shelby County. Memphis politics and money handling.....very corrupt.

[SickOfBarf]

12:58 AM on 05/04/2012

Tennessee is the idiot capital of the world.

[Gigglefoot777]

08:48 AM on 05/04/2012

I think you have TN confused with Arkansas. Case in point: Bill Clinton could not define "sex". How idiotic can one get? LOL!

[Gigglefoot777]

08:46 AM on 05/04/2012

They must be Dems then. LOL!

[Electraglide]

10:42 PM on 05/03/2012

If these boys are going to be nailed with felony charges I guess this is not a 'prank'. And, for what reason are Kroger shoppers in Memphis carrying around bottles of dry ice, and how do you accidentally walk off and leave one setting? That's not like setting down a Coke & forgetting it.

[lex19999]

05:04 AM on 05/04/2012

dry ice in a bottle, that is no explosive, its just a bottle bursting.

[eyeforeye42]

07:09 AM on 05/04/2012

Now place that bottle in a box and surround it by shrapnel and what do you have?

[rt1027]

06:13 AM on 05/05/2012

agreed

[Lisa GinnWhite]

09:31 PM on 05/03/2012

Heck when we were in school the boys were always trying to blow up something in the science lab, once they actually did it with a little explosion. These guys did not even get a bang with it, just smoke.

[David Amaya]

12:30 AM on 05/04/2012

re-read the story, bomb threat+loud explosion=chaos luckily no one was injured, but someone with asthma breathed whatevere it was, so I'm going to say clorine or swimming pool acid could be involved, those nit wits better plead out to the first offer from the da, if the person who breathed in the fumes needs to stay in the hospital for ANY reason, they're looking at assault w/ a deadly weapon and if the DA wants to make an example outta them, attempted murder

[lex19999]

05:05 AM on 05/04/2012

so I'm going to say clorine
What is clorine?

[emscrs]

07:58 PM on 05/03/2012

Blowing things up is not a prank.

[grundoboy]

07:31 PM on 05/03/2012

cripes, what ever happened to the good old days when we would just drop a M-80 in a toilet and blow it off the wall...ah,,fond memories.

[tamthebrat1978]

11:43 PM on 05/03/2012

Cherry bombs too. A bunch of kids I went to school decided to mix up a quarter stick of dynamite and blow apart a concrete garbage can outside of mcdonalds, guess they were not happy with their order.

[dwbarne]

12:01 AM on 05/04/2012

Because it's hard to find M-80s these days.

[Adam Hose]

05:55 PM on 05/03/2012

I can't say what we did when we were kids, but like this....it was always just for fun and experimentation. Learned a lot from it. On an un-related note, I went to Messick adult education center in Memphis for troubled kids (and adults) back in 1989. It was one of the best experiences of my life.....thanks Memphis.

[thm4usa]

07:25 PM on 05/03/2012

I spent a week in Memphis one night!

[dwbarne]

12:05 AM on 05/04/2012

You're lucky you survived it. After Katrina, a lot of thugs moved up to Memphis and it went from a dangerous town to a REALLY, REALLY dangerous town.

[XV8 Crisis Suit]

04:47 PM on 05/03/2012

Why did HuffPo link this article? A teacher did nothing wrong in it. Oh, wait, maybe I just didn't read it close enough... (begins rereading frantically)

[NutMeg42]

07:16 PM on 05/03/2012

You missed the implication. If teachers were doing a better job of raising their students, this kind of thing would never happen.

[acumenguy]

11:07 PM on 05/03/2012

"TEACHERS raising their students .......?"

Isn't that Mommy and Daddy's job?

[dan101t]

04:43 PM on 05/03/2012

Way back when I was in high school some student took some phosphorus and sulfur from chemistry class. He put them in the same bottle and put them in his pants pocket. About a ½ hour later the mixture blew up, it blew a hole in his pants and cuts and bruises on his leg. He spent a week off school and was kicked off the football team.
The school was not evacuated, no police were involved, no bomb squad showed up.
Times sure have changed.

[mugsy1340]

06:54 PM on 05/03/2012

Guess you were a pre-Columbine student!

[lex19999]

05:09 AM on 05/04/2012

phosphorus + sulfur in a bottle together will not explode.

[dan101t]

08:31 AM on 05/04/2012

I’ll take your word for that, it been many years ago. I do remember a strong sulfur smell after.