ORLANDO, Fla. – On Friday, Orlando police made two more arrests in connection with detonating acid bombs on the campus of an Orlando community college.
The names of the teens haven't been released because of their age. Police confirmed they were 16-year-old students at Olympia High School. The teens were arrested Friday morning at the high school and charged with detonation of a destructive device.
On Thursday, Orlando police arrested two 9-year-olds and three teenagers.
The teens, ages 13, 15 and 16, were arrested Wednesday and taken to the Orange County Juvenile Assessment Center. All five children are facing felony charges.
The mother of one of the 9-year-olds and the 13-year-old told Local 6 the boys now know what they did was wrong. Lisa Marie Perez said it all started because of what the boys found on YouTube.
"This stuff should be censored because it's too easy for kids," said Perez. "I didn't know you could look up how to make a bomb. I had no clue!"
An older boy found the instructions online, showed the others, and soon the boys taught kids as young as nine.
"They started showing little kids. They started showing me, and that's how it spread. It spread everywhere, everyone was doing it," said the 13-year-old, who Local 6 is not identifying because he is a minor. "I know a lot of kids get this from the internet that also do this. So, I think this will be an alert for other mothers."
"That's the most horrifying thing I found out; that they were showing the little kids or giving them to throw," said Perez.
Orlando police said three times over the past few weeks security guards at Valencia College's west campus found bombs in parking lots and along walkways. Firefighters were last called to the college Friday night where an arson bomb squad and a hazardous materials team removed the bombs.
Investigators said the boys tested numerous acid bombs in a field between their apartment complex and Valencia College. Then, they started exploding them on the campus.
"They made a stupid mistake. They were boys. They messed up," said Perez. "I'm not justifying the situation, but how the police is handling this -- they're not terrorists, they're not bombers, they're not out to hurt nobody. They were stupid boys doing something in an empty field."
No one has been injured, which friends of the students said is a reason why they shouldn't get in trouble.
"Who did they hurt? They didn't hurt anyone," said Rose Harrigan, a friend of the boys. "They did it after hours. There was nobody on campus; there was no one in sight."
Friends of the boys said they purposely picked the field between the apartments and Valencia to practice. Police said regardless, they won't take this lightly.
"The Orlando Police Department is glad that no one got hurt during these incidents, but the fact of the matter is that there was a potential for someone to have been hurt," the Orlando Police Department said in a statement. "In one of the incidents they actually placed one of these bombs in front of a door while the resident was home. Luckily, no one was hurt and nothing caught fire."
Police said it's incidents like this that eventually turn into major accidents and cost lives, while damaginig property.
"They could be up for what is called a felony suspension from the school district with potential recommendation for expulsion," said Kathy Marsh of Orange County Public Schools.