UC Davis Student Arrested on Explosives Charges

(Davis, California) Turned in by a fellow student, 19-year-old UC Davis freshman Mark Christopher Woods was arrested by campus police yesterday evening on charges of suspicion of making and possessing explosives.

According to UC Davis spokeswoman Lisa Lapin:

Campus police went to Woods' room on the third floor of Tercero Residence Halls about 9 p.m. Wednesday after a neighboring student reported that there might be explosives inside, Lapin said.

After investigators found the makings of at least two pipe bombs, she said, they took Woods into custody and evacuated 455 students from the dorm and six surrounding buildings on the west side of the main campus, near the intersection of Interstate 80 and Highway 113.

Overnight, investigators -- regional bomb squads and agents of the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives -- descended on the dorm room.

This morning, federal investigators said explosives could be removed from the room, and students were expected to be allowed back into the dorm later today, Lapin said.

Woods is an economics major who has been described as liking to experiment but with no intentions of injuring anyone. Uh, famous last words.

Mark Christopher Woods was booked into custody with preparations made for his transfer to the Yolo County Jail. He has been suspended from the school.