Kansas town in shock over Columbine-style plot

Authorities seized firearms, ammunition and other items from the suspects' homes

In this story: No bombs found at school Guns, white supremacy paraphernalia seized 'Everybody at this school is friends' RELATED STORIES, SITES

HOYT, Kansas (CNN) -- This small Kansas community was in shock Tuesday, a day after authorities said a Columbine-style attack on Royal Valley High School was foiled.

Counselors were on hand to help students who might be troubled by the alleged plot and to reassure them that the danger was avoided.

"We want to re-establish for students the feeling that school is safe," Marceta Reilly, the superintendent of schools, told CNN. "Our staff is very committed to ensuring the safety of our kids."

Three Royal Valley students -- Richard Bradley Jr., 18, and two juveniles, ages 16 and 17 -- were charged with conspiracy to commit murder and conspiring to use explosives at Royal Valley.

No bombs found at school

Reilly credited the plot's discovery to a crisis plan put into place after the 1999 attack at Columbine High School in Colorado that left 15 people dead, including the two teen-age gunmen.

The plan included setting up a school hot line and hiring a sheriff's deputy, called a school resource officer. She said the arrests show the system worked.

"I am very relieved that the students were discovered before anything really serious could happen," Reilly said.

She said bomb-sniffing dogs on Monday combed the Royal Valley campus, about 15 miles north of Topeka, and found no bombs or bomb-making devices.

"We really wanted to be able to assure parents that nothing is on campus. Nothing was found," she said.

Guns, white supremacy paraphernalia seized

Officials searched two of the suspects' houses and seized a hand-drawn floor plan of Royal Valley High indicating "strategic locations throughout the school."

Officials found no bombs or bomb-making devices at the Royal Valley campus

Authorities said they also found firearms, ammunition, a book, and computer disks containing instructions on how to make and set off explosives, a statement from the sheriff's office said. Also taken were white supremacy paraphernalia, it said.

An anonymous call to a school hot line last month tipped authorities to the possibility that something was awry, officials said.

Then, last week, a student overheard two of the youths talking about their plan, said James Holloman, the school principal. The student took that information to Holloman, who told the school resource officer, a deputy with the Jackson County Sheriff's Office.

The teen-agers had not set a date to carry out their plan but had discussed having it coincide with a major school event, such as the prom, said a spokeswoman for the sheriff.

'Everybody at this school is friends'

Student Christine Shy, who knows the suspects, downplayed the threat.

"People don't believe it was going to actually happen," she said.

"They wasn't like outcasts or anything," she told a local television reporter. "Everybody at this school is friends with everybody. You wouldn't think that somebody like that would be prone to do that. They were all everybody's friend."

But the threat carried the potential for harm, said Reilly. "It's always the balance between 'Is this just a hoax or a prank, or is this something serious?' But in this case it turned out to be serious."

"I think our schools are very safe; I think they're safer than they ever have been, because we do take things seriously," she said. "We do have programs and procedures in place that help us make the school a safe place for our kids."

But Diane Traicoff, the parent of a student at the school, said her daughter is not convinced. "At this point, she's so very upset, she doesn't want to return to school. She'd rather do home schooling."

The alleged plot marks the second in recent weeks that authorities have foiled. Last week, police in San Jose, California, arrested a 19-year-old student, Al DeGuzman, who they allege planned a killing spree at his community college campus.

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Royal Valley High School

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