Boy's science project prompts school evacuation

[February 04, 2010]  SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Fire officials said a San Diego middle school was evacuated when a student's science project was mistaken for a bomb.

Fire-Rescue spokesman Maurice Luque said a vice principal's concerns prompted the evacuation of Millennial Tech Magnet Middle School Friday afternoon. Luque said an arson team took photos and x-rays of the empty plastic bottle with wires and determined it was harmless.

Luque says the 11-year-old boy was trying to build a motion detector from instructions he found on the Internet and parts he bought online with help from his father. His parents did not realize that the object looked threatening.

He said the student was "a genius-type kid" who undertook the project on his own, had no intentions of hurting anyone or causing any disruptions.

[Associated Press]

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