November 9, 2004 in City

2 arraigned in EWU pipe bombing

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Two suspended Eastern Washington University students appeared before a judge Monday after they were arrested over the weekend on felony charges related to the detonation of two homemade pipe bombs on the campus in Cheney.

Brent J. Johnson, 19, appeared Monday before District Court Judge Harold Clarke. Johnson was charged with two felony counts of possession of explosives and Clarke ordered him held on a $2,000 bond.

Johnson’s roommate, 18-year-old Elgin M. Distler, also appeared in court. Clarke agreed to release Distler on his own recognizance on two counts of first-degree rendering criminal assistance.

Both students were arrested after a pipe bomb exploded early Saturday morning next to Morrison Hall, according to court records. Johnson and Distler were also charged in connection with a similar explosion next to Dressler Hall on Oct. 28.

Johnson’s attorney, Paul Mack, told Clarke that Johnson was a lifelong Spokane resident who graduated from Lewis and Clark High School this spring.

“I don’t think you will find malice … directed at the public,” Mack said of the incident. “As alleged, it’s a stupid prank that could have been dangerous.”

Barb Richey, EWU’s director of university of relations said that argument won’t fly.

“Regardless of whether or not it was a prank, we have a zero-tolerance policy for things like this,” she said. “I’m just so glad that there were no injuries and minimal damage to the outside of the building.”

The university has temporarily suspended both Johnson and Distler while the investigation is under way.

“They have been removed from the residence hall system and are not attending classes,” she said.

Two other EWU students who weren’t named in court documents have also been temporarily suspended, she said, but she couldn’t discuss how the unnamed students were involved.

According to court records, Johnson told a university police officer that he purchased pipe, black gunpowder and fuse at the Ace Hardware General Store in Spokane. He said he built the first pipe bomb in his and Distler’s dorm room before blowing it up at about 12:30 a.m. on Oct. 28 next to Dressler Hall.

Then on Saturday at about 1 a.m., he checked the area underneath their room in Morrison Hall for people before lighting the second explosive, according to court records.

Johnson admitted to lighting the bomb “and pushing it out the window,” court records state. He watched “the explosive detonate just ten (10) feet below their window.”

According to court records, Distler told the same university officer that he saw the two bombs in Johnson’s possession.

Distler told the officer that he drove “the vehicle when Johnson lit a pipe bomb and threw it near Dressler Hall on October 28,” according to court records. He also walked with Johnson on Saturday “to check and see if there was anyone under or around their window at Morrison Hall.”

Distler said he was in the room when Johnson lit the bomb and pushed it out their window.

Nobody was injured from either explosion. The Saturday explosion did leave marks on a sidewalk, Richey said.

“The safety and security of our students is always our primary concern,” she said, reading from the university’s statement.

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