Pipe bomb materials found at university

Calif. student facing charges

Hundreds were evacuated at the University of California, Davis, yesterday after investigators said they found partially assembled pipe bombs in a student's dorm room. (RICH PEDRONCELLI/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

A University of California, Davis, freshman from Torrance, Calif., was arrested yesterday morning after investigators reported finding partially assembled pipe bombs in his dorm room, the university said.

Mark Christopher Woods, 19, was arrested on suspicion of possessing chemicals to make explosives and possessing explosive materials on school grounds, both felonies, said Lisa Lapin, university spokeswoman.

Campus police went to Woods's 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.

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

Students were expected to be allowed back into the dorm later yesterday, Lapin said. Most have been staying in a dining hall, she said.

A university spokeswoman had said that investigators had not been able to locate Woods's roommate; university Fire Department officials later said the roommate had been questioned Wednesday night and released.

The campus remained open yesterday, with classes in session.

"We do not expect further disruption to the university," Fred Wood, vice chancellor for student affairs, said in a statement yesterday.

"We are confident that university police and other local law enforcement agencies have the situation contained."

Woods will not be returning to class soon; university policy says students facing felony charges are placed on interim suspension until their cases are completed, Lapin said.

Woods was in campus police custody and was scheduled to be transferred to Yolo County Jail.