USA : Teen Killed After Strapping Rocket to Skateboard

 

Officials inspect the scene after a homemade model rocket exploded attached to a skateboard killed one teen and injured another Monday in Thousand Oaks, California.   (Joel Council)

(Newser) – Authorities say two Southern California high school students attached a homemade model rocket to a skateboard before it exploded and killed one of the teens. The blast Monday evening in the courtyard of a Ventura County elementary school killed 18-year-old Bernard Moon, the AP reports. His 17-year-old friend was injured and is in stable condition. Sheriff's Detective Timothy Loman says the teens built the rocket and attached it to the skateboard as a propulsion device. Authorities say the experiment wasn't sanctioned by the elementary school. The teens attended Thousand Oaks High School, which said in a Twitter post: "Our hearts are broken."

Investigators will try to piece together the homemade rocket. Capt. Garo Kuredjian says the two high school seniors apparently were experimenting with "some sort of chemical combination" before the accidental blast Monday. Investigators will try to determine the size and shape of the rocket, w