August 6, 2008
Bethesda Teen Bomb Suspect Case Gets Weirder
We've been following the case of Collin McKenzie-Gude, 18, of Bethesda since his arrest last week on charges of making and exploding pipe bombs and illegally possessing firearms. At first glance, the circumstantial evidence that's been piling up paints a pretty weird picture. Here's what's happened so far:
- On Tuesday, July 29, Montgomery County investigators acted on a tip from a concerned citizen and searched the Gude family home on the 6300 block of Rockhurst Road. There they found several assault rifles, two shotguns, one handgun and ammunition. They also recovered 50 pounds of chemicals, several gallons of liquid material and components that can be used to make homemade explosives. The Gude family attorney has said the guns were in a locked gun cabinet unloaded.
- On Wednesday, July 30, Collin McKenzie-Gude turned himself into the police. Gude was at this point charged with possessing guns he was not old enough to own, possession of a destructive device and possession of explosive material. His father, Joseph Gude, 62, was charged with buying guns for his son. The younger Gude was released on $115,000 bond.
- On Thursday, July 31, it was revealed that police had found a list in Gude's home that contained the names and home addresses of many of his teachers from St. John's College High, the D.C. private school from which he had recently graduated. No direct connection was made between the list and the cache of weapons. But Gude was taken into custody once again that day after police also discovered that he had set off several explosive devices with a friend, a minor who has not been identified, in a field in Gaithersburg. The minor had recently worked as an intern at a Montgomery County police district station, and apparently stole police letterhead stationery and used it to obtain items restricted to law enforcement personnel. Gude was additionally charged with five counts of manufacturing, possession, distribution or use of a destructive device.
- On Friday, August 1, the minor surrendered to police on juvenile charges of theft, computer misuse and conspiracy.
- On Monday, confusion over how old Gude had been when he allegedly set off the explosive devices led to those charges against him being dropped. County officials planned to refile the charges, and were able to keep him in custody thanks to new allegations that Gude had assaulted and tried to carjack a 78-year-old man in the parking lot of the White Flint Mall on Tuesday, July 29, the day that authorities searched his home. They say he tried, unsuccessfully, to steal the car so that he could evade authorities.
- Gude appeared in court again yesterday, where prosecutors revealed that they had also found among his possessions a map of Camp David marked with a presidential motorcade route, and a document that appears to describe how to kill someone at a distance of 200 meters. They also found two fake IDs, one that purported him to be a Central Intelligence Agency employee, and the other in the name of a federal contractor. Lastly, they found a "to-do" list of items to be bought by October 2008, which included things like "equipment to convert semiautomatic rifles to fully automatic rifles," and "range-finding glasses that typically are used by a sniper team."
What's peculiar about this case is that not a single person has come forward to describe either kid as ever having displayed any kind of weird behavior. Everyone interviewed so far has said they were both normal suburban Maryland kids. The circumstantial evidence police have collected sure is disturbing, but with no motive or clue as to Gude's intent, it's pretty easy for anyone reading these stories to jump to conclusions that may or may not be valid.
Information from the Washington Post and WRC/NBC4. Photo of Gude courtesy Montgomery County Police
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I think it's safe to jump to the conclusion that people don't stockpile assault weapons because they are good natured, decent human beings who mean no ill will.
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Indeed, registeringsucks indeed.
Hey, I was a normal kid who even belonged to a rifle club and used to shoot every week; but I never had a cache of assault rifles in my crib.
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I am so on board with this story. I hope it gets some legs and we get to hear even more sordid details of the crazy MoCo potential assassin of '08. Although, I guess someone is going to have to think up a better name than that.
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Sounds like the kid needs some mandatory junk punching.
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Note to PG County Police - no dogs have yet been killed in this story. Also, proper search procedures were used.
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I just want to mention how MoCo isn't totally getting disparaged in the press because of this kid. PG has gotten enough bad press lately so it's interesting to note that MoCo is trying to keep up the pace in the MD suburbs bad press race.
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Thing is, Cranky, I'm pretty sure he had his fair share of being junkpunched, and that might've led him to do these things.
I was just reading an article in Esquire (August) - that details the life of this kid who shot up NIU not too long ago. He was mocked, neglected, junkpunched (probably, but not mentioned in article), and these, along with a couple other factors - caused him to go beserk at NIU.
Moral of the story: junkpunching = funny as it may sound - ineffective nonetheless.
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What the report failed to mention was that the CIA and other fake IDs were drawn in crayon with the "r"s and "p"s backwards and were coverd with Dora the Explorer stickers.
When the authorities came to sieze the liquid chemicals and weapons, the alleged bombmaker was heard to yell, "Swiper no swiping! Swiper no swiping! Swiper no swiping!"
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Is this what the "Johnnies" are being taught nowadays? How to get your ass handed to you by a 78 year old in a failed car-jacking! I mean you have to actively want to lose that fight in order for it not to be pulled off. As a local Catholic school grad (not St. Johns, thank God!), I am really disappointed in the kids these days. All books and no brains. The schools need to bring back corporal punishment, that will brighten these kids up quick.
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No Bladezone. Moral of the story: catholic school f***s your s**t UP. I know whereof I speak. I haven't been quite the same since I graduated from the Little Sister's of No Mercy and Our Lady of Perpetual Motion.
If you'll excuse me, I have to get back to burning my extensive lists of teachers and people who've done me dirt.
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I just want to mention how MoCo isn't totally getting disparaged in the press because of this kid. PG has gotten enough bad press lately so it's interesting to note that MoCo is trying to keep up the pace in the MD suburbs bad press race.
I look forward to the "All Hands on Deck" response with a roadblock at Balducci's.
Bethesda Represent!
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If you'll excuse me, I have to get back to burning my extensive lists of teachers and people who've done me dirt.
Monkeyrotica's Revenge List:
Bill Of Rights
John McCain
Fat-Free Lard
Gravity
The Teen Choice Awards
My Ninth Grade Biology Teacher at Our Lady of Perpetual Motion
The Frighttorium
Billy Crystal
Time-Traveling Martin Van Buren
Soloflex
Phil Mendelson
Stern Lecture Plumbing
Econo-Save
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C'mon people! This is just a phase everyone goes through at some point. The only crime comitted here is 'needs a girlfriend'.. and surely you don't lock someone up for that?
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You forgot Ray Jay Johnson, Linda Lavin, and the Old Man from Scene 24.
[adds cminus to list]
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Also, I suppose its merely a coincidence these arrests are made right after the MoCo police computer system switched over to Skynet? I've been to the future, I've seen things: technology may be a good slave but it makes a terrible master.
--
monkeyrotica: Don't forget to add SkyNet to your list. They made us sit through two movies before sending back a hot chick.
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Cyberdyne Systems already made the list, along with Weyland-Yutani, Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems ("Where the Future Begins Tomorrow!"), Matsumura Fishworks, and Tamaribuchi Heavy Manufacturing Concern.
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cminus, i give that list a b plus!
Has it occured to the authorities that this kid may just be too into LARP?
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You forgot Ray Jay Johnson, Linda Lavin, and the Old Man from Scene 24.
They must have been on the burned parts.
And speaking of burned parts, I'm very disappointed that the strike tag around "Frighttorium" showed up in preview, but not the final.
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Tourists that buy t-shirts from vendors that have the letters CIA or FBI printed on them - Beware!
You could be accused of trying to impersonate a CIA or FBI officer should a search for a weapons cache be conducted at your home.
And what if you are wearing said t-shirt at the time of the search?!
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[adds tourists in CIA/FBI/Calvin Peeing teeshirts to list]
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i like "normal suburban Maryland kids
as if that means anything.
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He looks like a young Keifer Sutherland, doesn't he? At least his collar isn't popped in his mug shot.
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Aw, hell.
In high school, my friends used to blow sh*t up before heading off to the corn field for a kegger, after which experimenting with electric circuits would be done, then some time spent online (phone physically on the modem a la wargames). Next day's English class would be spent debating whether qmodem or xmodem was faster. More blowing sh*t up after school. Hell, for senior prank, they cut up a car and winched it to the roof of the school building. That was with acetylene torches! While listening to hair metal!
The school was empty of boys on the first day of deer season. I did have at least one friend with a family stash of weapons including revolvers, semiautomatic pistols, shotguns, rifles and at least one assault weapon. No motorcade maps, though.
Today, these folks would be in the next cell over from Gude instead of in the NHS. But it was the 80s. SO pre-9/11.
I can only imagine what would have happened if the local Catholic school didn't stop at grade 8.
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I am an old man now, but I too used to blow things up at that age. Every model airplane and car in the neighborhood got blown up and lit on fire. That was normal behavior. It was great training for Viet Nam. Nowadays kids, are faced with war in Iraq, where bombs (IEDS) are a little more sophisticated. This young lad seems to have been bitten by the curiosity bug.
As for the weapons, his father is old enough to have these in his house. I believe the Supreme Court recently ruled the 2nd amendment is indeed a God given right, NOT to be infringed upon. The second amendment says: A WELL REGULATED MILITIA, BEING NECESSARY TO THE SECURITY OF A FREE STATE, THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS, SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED. Seems to be pretty clear to me, although 4 of our Supremes may or may not be illiterate. I didn't see an age restriction in that amendment or anything about hunting weapons only. It looks to me that father and son are taking up their GOD GIVEN right to join a well regulated militia.
As for the note, it appears to be covered by the 4th Amendment. Unless the police had probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched and the exact thing to be seized, the kid is well within his rights to be secure in his person, house, paper and effects against unnreasonable searches and seizures.
My only hope for this country is that there are millions more father and sons, like the Gudes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zoDLI3HszU&feature=related
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Ah, the halcyon days of the 1970s, full of chemistry sets and baking soda volcanos and beer can mortars made out of duct tape and M80s. Try that nowdays and you've bought yourself a one-way ticket to GitMo and a backyard full of dead labradors.
Kids nowdays will never know the simple pleasures of re-enacting the Kennedy Assasination with their friends on skateboards and bicycles. It's just not the same with helmets and kneepads. If Iron Eyes Cody were alive today, he'd weep for his littered landscape and the children being raised by World of Warcraft and Jenna Jameson.
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My inclination is to agree with hillrat and ajw on this one. Had the police searched my house when I was in high school, they probably would have found a two different lists of my high school teachers' home addresses, a schematic map of the Minneapolis Airport, chemicals that can be used to manufacture explosives, actual explosives, an ID card for the Office of Secret Intelligence, and who knows what other "suspicious" items. We didn't have firearms, but I had friends that had shotguns, including one who brought it to school for a speech class demonstration. Despite having all these things, I have never planned or committed a felony or any violent crime. Simply possessing these items, without some concrete plan to commit a crime, could be completely innocent. This list of items seems to have been released to scare the public and try the case in the media prior to a trial.
Having sad that, I also never attempted to steal someone's car or used Police Department stationery to obtain controlled items. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
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excuse me boondoggle, but im pretty sure he has a girlfriend... well probably not anymore. but i go to sjc and i knew a girl who claimed she was his girlfriend. but i bet shes doesnt want to be near him anymore though.