Fifth Teen To Face Charges

A fifth teen-ager linked to a high school massacre plot in Massachusetts is scheduled to be arraigned today.

The unidentified teen is 16 and authorities aren't saying how the youth was involved in the plot.

Another teen-ager, who police said cooperated with investigators, was charged Tuesday in an alleged plot to kill students and teachers in a deadly Columbine-like assault on a Massachusetts high school.

Amy Lee Bowman, 17, pleaded not guilty in New Bedford District Court to charges of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit assault and battery. But unlike three of the other alleged teen-age co-conspirators who were charged on Monday, Bowman was released on probation.

"We treat these people based on a variety of evaluative factors," prosecutor Ray Veary told reporters outside the courthouse.

Eric McKeehan, 17, his 15-year-old brother and another 15-year-old boy were held without bail until hearings could be held for them next week.

Prosecutors said Bowman identified McKeehan and his younger brother as the primary plotters to kill as many people as possible at the high school in this once famous whaling town about 60 miles southwest of Boston.

Police searched the students' homes and found bomb-making directions, shotgun shells, knives and a flare gun over the weekend. They also found photographs of at least one of them with weapons.

The three teen-agers allegedly modeled themselves after the students who carried out the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.

On April 20, 1999, two students armed with assault weapons killed 12 students, one teacher and themselves at Columbine High School in one of the worst instances of school violence in U.S. history.

New Bedford High School officials said attendance, which was off 40 percent on Monday when many students chose to skip classes, was near normal on Tuesday.

© MMI, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press and Reuters Limited contributed to this report