In yet another sign of how youth is shaped by images and info in the news and entertainment media, a 16 year-old boy has been taken into custody for planning to hijack a plane in a suicide attempt.
Some early reports suggested the unnamed teen (newspapers often omit the names of minors) planned to crash it into a Hannah Montana concert in Louisiana — which could have raised the possibility that music critics were behind the plan.
But an FBI official later denied the teen planned to “crash” the concert.
Authorities have charged a teenage boy who said he planned to hijack a commercial jetliner in an attempt to commit suicide, an FBI spokesman told CNN late Thursday.
The 16-year-old was taken into custody by airport police without incident on Tuesday evening after flying from Los Angeles, California, to Nashville, Tennessee, on Southwest Airlines Flight 284.
“His stated intent was to hijack the airplane and commit suicide,” said George Bolds, an FBI spokesman in Memphis, Tennessee. “He did indicate he intended to die in Louisiana. It appears he had a ticket to Louisiana.”
Bolds said the boy indicated he had lived in Louisiana.The teen wanted to crash the plane into a Hannah Montana concert in Lafayette, Louisiana, two CNN television affiliates in Nashville, WSMV and WTVF, reported, citing unnamed sources. The concert is scheduled for Friday night at the Lafayette Cajundome.
Bolds said he had no information on whether the concert may have been targeted as part of the plot.
The teen was well equipped, too:
The teen, 16, from Novato in northern California, had handcuffs, duct tape, rope and other suspicious items on a flight from Los Angeles Tuesday, but FBI spokesman George Bolds wouldn’t say what led to a tip about the teenager, who was detained by Nashville International Airport police after the flight landed,
The teen, whose name has not been released, is being held on state felony charges related to terrorism. Bolds said he does not face federal charges although the FBI investigation continues.
Some teens build cars, some build computers — but according to one report this teen built an airplane cockpit at home.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.