Sacramento • Two 15-year-old students in a suburban Sacramento school district have been arrested, averting what police say was a plan to open fire on a group of students during lunch today.

The boys - a freshman and a sophomore - planned to steal guns from a local sporting-goods store and set off explosives in Laguna Creek High School's cafeteria, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department said Tuesday.

The boys had obtained no weapons or explosives at the time of their arrest, police said, but they had access to a .22 caliber rifle at one of their homes.

Police also found a hand-drawn map of the school cafeteria and hate drawings including swastikas, sheriff's Sgt. Lou Fatur said.

One of the targeted students was a black girl, prompting police to label the event a hate crime, but Fatur said it isn't clear all the student were targeted based on race.

"These Kids were pretty angry at a lot of people," Fatur said.

Both of the arrested students are white, and at least one was new to the high school.

February 11, 2004