Nightly News   |  August 17, 2011

Anonymous tip foils Florida bomb plot

In Tampa, Fla. police say they stopped a student, who was angry over being expelled, from pulling off a bomb plot at school that could have been worse than Columbine. NBC’s Mark Potter reports.

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>>> now we go to tampa , florida where police say they stopped a student who was angry over being expelled from pulling off a bombing plot at school that could have been worse than columbine. mark potter reports anonymous tip led tampa police to their suspect.

>> reporter: police say in this quiet apartment complex in north tampa they found enough bomb making material, including shrapnel to kill a lot of people.

>> we were probably able to thwart a potentially catastrophic event the likes of which the city of tampa has not seen and hopefully never will.

>> reporter: arrested on felony bomb charges is 17-year-old jared cano who was expelled for inappropriate behavior. on his facebook page he lists one of hiss favorite quotes as lessons not learned in blood are soon forgotten. police learned he planned to set up bombs next tuesday when classes begin.

>> there were two individual factuality members who were specific targets and his desire to cause more casualties than were suffered at columbine.

>> reporter: during the column columbi columbine -- this time they were alerted in advance.

>> it's unfortunate to have a situation like this, but it's fortunate that we stopped it.

>> we like might not even show up to school, just to be safe.

>> reporter: police say so far they believe cano acted alone in his threat again the school. and school officials say they are trying to contact all the parents now to assure them the school behind me is safe. saying classes will still begin on tuesday, brian?

>> mark potter in tampa , florida for us tonight. mark, thanks