Tuesday January 30 8:48 PM ET
Police Thwart 'Columbine-Style' Attack in Calif.

CUPERTINO, Calif. (Reuters) - A last-minute tip from a drug store photo clerk helped police thwart what they called a plot for a ``Columbine-style'' attack at a California college on Tuesday --
averting a potential bloodbath at the school's main cafeteria.

``This was an elaborate plan for a mass murder -- no other way to put it,'' San Jose Deputy Police Chief Mike Miceli told a news conference after a tense morning which saw De Anza College
evacuate its campus in Cupertino, about 45 miles south of San Francisco.

Police announced they had arrested a suspect, identified as 19-year-old Al DeGuzman, and uncovered a cache of arms including two rifles, one sawed-off shotgun, a large amount of ammunition, and more than 60 explosive devices ranging from pipe bombs to Molotov cocktails.

DeGuzman was reportedly a student at De Anza, a single-campus community college with an enrollment of 26,000 students. Police said he did not appear to have a criminal record, and identified
no motive for the alleged plot.

But they said he had left a recording indicating sympathy with the teenage gunmen who killed 15 people, including themselves, during a shooting rampage at Colorado's Columbine High School in

1999 -- making him apparently the latest in a growing list of angry U.S. students who have sought
to take vengeance on their schools through the barrel of a gun.

``He had his act together...and he was very much intent on what he was going to do,'' Miceli said.

Miceli said a search of DeGuzman's room at his parents' San Jose, Calif., home had turned up a diary and an audio tape indicating he may have been planning the alleged attack for up to two years.

They said the alleged assault -- described as a ''Columbine-style attack'' -- had been due to begin at 12:30 p.m. PST Tuesday, centered on the main campus cafeteria.

``There would have been a lot of people who would have been killed,'' Miceli added.

Police credited the arrest to a quick-thinking tip from a young employee at a local drug store who grew alarmed on Monday when developing film pictures from a roll DeGuzman had brought in,
apparently of weaponry.

The employee called her father, a San Jose police officer, who told her to alert the police immediately. When DeGuzman came to the store to pick up the pictures, she delayed him until police arrived and took him into custody.

Mind-Boggling Stockpile Of Guns

Miceli said a subsequent search of DeGuzman's room on Monday evening had turned up an astonishing stockpile of guns, ammunition, and explosive devices.

``They're mind-boggling,'' Miceli said. ``You wouldn't think that one person could have all these bombs and all this destruction in one room and plan on going out and taking it out on people.''

Along with DeGuzman's diary, police uncovered what they said was an audio tape which contained a message dealing with his alleged attack plan and words of sympathy for the Columbine killers.

``The tape-recording that we found was just bone-chilling. In my 30 years of law enforcement I can't describe it in any other way,'' Miceli said. He said it contained ``an apology'' to the American people.

De Anza authorities, alerted first to a bomb threat, quickly ordered the entire campus evacuated Tuesday morning as the extent of the apparent danger became clear.

Evacuation of roughly 10,000 people caused gridlock on neighborhood streets, and students were warned to keep away from campus and off-campus facilities until the all-clear notice was given.

``We have individuals in our society who are very angry,'' De Anza President Martha Kanter told reporters. ``I think it's an act of rage and it's irrational and I think all you can do is be rational, evacuate people, and make sure you have a disaster plan in place.''

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