Derek Shrout Bomb Plot: Russell County High School Teacher Thwarts Attack, Police In Alabama Say

An Alabama teen was mere steps away from carrying out an explosive attack on his high school, only to be thwarted by his teacher, police say.

Derek Shrout, 17, detailed in a journal what police believe were plans to terrorize Russell County High School in Seale, Ala., the Ledger-Enquirer reports.

A teacher discovered the notebook in her classroom and contacted administrators, who then notified authorities.

Police say Shrout -- a "self-proclaimed white supremacist" -- had prepared several dozen homemade grenades, WTVY reports. A search of the suspect's home Friday allegedly revealed dozens of tobacco containers filled with shrapnel and drilled with holes for fuses.

The makeshift weapons were "a step or two away from being ready to explode," Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor said, according to WRBL. "The first thing I wanted to know was if you did exactly what he wrote, would it blow up? And everybody that I've consulted with has said that it would absolutely blow up exactly the way he wrote it."

Shrout identified six students and one instructor by name in the notebook.

When interrogated by authorities, Shrout claimed the supposed plans were a work of fiction that he never intended to carry out. The earliest entries in the journal were written just three days after the massacre in Sandy Hook, Conn., CNN reports.

Shrout is charged with felony attempted assault.