By Stephanie Boulos
SACRAMENTO, CA – Defendant Gustavo Aguilar has been charged with multiple felonies for allegedly placing pipe bombs—one with notes inscribed on it—and other weapons near an elementary school in Sacramento, according to a pretrial hearing here in Sacramento County Superior Court Thursday.
The first of these pipe bomb-related incidents occurred on March 2, when the pipe bomb was found by an administrator in front of the school, along with a zip gun with a 12 gauge shotgun round.
This incident occurred yet again when another pipe bomb was found outside the same school two weeks later on March 19.
The defendant allegedly admitted to placing these pipe bombs “maliciously…to get back at someone,” according to the district attorney.
One of the pipe bombs was even inscribed with the words “I AM A KILLER” and “SCHOOL,” while the other was found to display the name of three individuals, one of which was employed by the elementary school.
Judge Scott Tedmon said he couldn’t, because of the repeated malicious actions, support the release of the defendant, even after he posted his bail, calling him a “danger to the public.”
With young children at the elementary school at the time of both incidents, these “false alarms” could have very well been horrific accidents resulting in the death of many children, the court noted.
The zip gun, an improvised unofficial firearm made by the defendant, contained live rounds of ammunition, the 12 gauge shotgun round. While the other pipe bombs simply had potential, this live ammunition posed a very real threat to the students and administrators on campus.
The defendant’s public defender maintained all of these bombs were “false alarms” that did not cause any harm. The PD noted Aguilar’s established ties to Sacramento, with family in the area, and continuous employment.
The topic of the defendant’s mental health was discussed, suggesting the defendant may be suffering from mental health issues, which may have attributed to the repeated incidents.
While the defendant did post a $25,000 bail, Judge Tedmon deemed the posted bail void and put the defendant back in custody with bail set at $150,000.
His next hearing is in Dept. 1 on April 1.
I’m a second year Political Science and Philosophy major at UC Davis from SoCal, hoping to pursue a career in law!
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