The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

April 16, 2010

GAC student accused of taking chemicals out of class

By Dan Nienaber The Free Press

ST PETER — A felony charge has been filed against a Gustavus Adolphus College student who is accused of taking explosive chemicals from a science classroom and keeping them in his dorm room.

Police received two tips about Timothy James Shay, 20, possibly having dangerous chemicals. After the first report, the investigation apparently ended when Shay told St. Peter police officer Brian Paulus that he had been joking with the classmate who turned him in.

Campus security first called the St. Peter Police Department about the chemicals on Jan. 29, according to the criminal complaint filed this week in Nicollet County District Court. Ashlie Suomala had reported that Shay told her he had stolen two chemicals from a Gustavus classroom. He told her that, if the chemicals were combined, they would explode.

When Shay was confronted by Paulus, he said he had been joking with Suomala.

On Feb. 4, security called the Police Department again. This time officer Ryan Eberhart was sent to Shay’s dorm room on campus. His mother, Patricia Shay, had been removing things from the room and found a container that appeared to be filled with water. Two brown vials, separated by wax paper, where inside the larger container, the complaint said.

Eberhart learned one of the vials contained lead nitrate and the other contained sodium azide. A Gustavus chemistry professor, Amanda Nienow, told Eberhart that, if combined, the chemicals would have created about 4.5 grams of lead azide.

“Professor Nienow further explained that 4.5 grams of lead azide contained enough explosive power to cause significant damage if ignited in a closed space,” the complaint said. It would have “the ability to blast objects hundreds of feet away from the point of detonation.”

Nienow also told Eberhart that Shay had been a student in her forensic science class earlier that year. Students in the class had been shown how to create lead azide, she reported.

A Gustavus spokesman said no one was available at the college Friday to say if Shay is still a student there, or if any policies have been put in place to ensure students can’t take dangerous chemicals out of the classroom.

Shay is scheduled to make his first court appearance on May 4 for the felony charge of possessing an explosive device.

 

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