Teen Held in Bomb Plot That Targeted Gay, Black Peers

Neal Broverman

Neal Broverman is the Editorial Director, Print of Pride Media, publishers of The Advocate, Out, Out Traveler, and Plus, spending more than 20 years in journalism. He indulges his interest in transportation and urban planning with regular contributions to Los Angeles magazine, and his work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. He lives in the City of Angels with his husband, children, and their chiweenie.

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Neal Broverman

January 07 2013 3:38 PM EST

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

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A racist, homophobic Alabama teenager is under arrest for allegedly plotting to kill African-Americans, and someone he believed was gay, with homemade grenades.

Derek Shrout was arrested Friday and will be arraigned Monday for the plot he's accused of masterminding. A teacher found a journal of his where he had plans to kill six students and a teacher. Six of the intended victims were African-American, while one was gay, Shrout believed. Shrout is a self-proclaimed white-supremacist, according to ABC News. Local authorities are calling this a hate crime and intend to charge the 17-year-old with such.

"That's the reason the white male was on the list (because Shrout believed he was gay)," Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor told the media. "It screams hate crime."

Shrout began writing in his journal, which he claims is a work of fiction, three days after the Newtown, Conn., school massacre.

Police found empty tobacco containers filled with shrapnel at Shrout's home; they had holes in them for fuses. Read more here.