Feds join weapons probe of teens

Fake government IDs, map of Camp David also found in search

The case, which has resulted in charges against two teens and one of their fathers, involves a map of Camp David; a presidential motorcade map; counterfeit identification cards, including one from the CIA; and a list outlining things to accomplish by October 2008, including buying two sets of range glasses like those used by snipers, according to Assistant State's Attorney Peter Feeney.

These items were found last week in the Bethesda home of Collin McKenzie-Gude, 18, along with several assault rifles, two bulletproof vests loads with armor-piercing ammunition, more than 50 pounds of bomb-making chemicals and timers, and a list of home addresses for his high school faculty.

Feeney told Montgomery County District Court Judge J. Michael Conroy of the additional evidence Tuesday during a bond review hearing for McKenzie-Gude, who was charged Monday in an attempted carjacking and assault last week of a 78-year-old man at White Flint Mall. The recent graduate of St. John's College High School in Washington, D.C., who was headed to American University's School of International Service in the fall, was already being held in solitary confinement on several weapons and explosives charges. Bond is currently set at $750,000.

A 17-year-old from Gaithersburg, also a St. John's student, was also charged for theft and conspiracy in connection with McKenzie-Gude. McKenzie-Gude's father, Joseph L. Gude Jr., 62, has been charged for buying firearms for his son and perjury.

Authorities have yet to ascribe a motive in the case.

"We obviously were very concerned with the amount of chemicals and timing devices that he had," Kenneth Korenblatt, head of the county's bomb squad, said on Monday. "Put that together with his rifles and some guns Ö and it's very, very concerning to us, although we do not have a motive at this time."

What happened

On July 21, McKenzie-Gude allegedly brought an assault rifle to the Gaithersburg home of the 17-year-old, according to the teen's aunt. On July 22, she attempted to report the incident to a civilian desk clerk at the county police's 1st District station in Rockville, where her nephew was an intern. She said the clerk did not take her seriously or allow her to speak with an officer.

"When I went to the police they said all kids are interested in guns," she told The Gazette last week. "That it's no big deal." The Gazette is not identifying the aunt to protect the identity of the 17-year-old who is charged as a juvenile.

On July 23, the aunt reached out to the Gaithersburg Police Department for help.

"She came into the station and said that her nephew told her that Collin had displayed an AK-47," said Gaithersburg Police Chief John King.

Police took a report and called McKenzie-Gude's father who said he owned an assault rifle but that his son would not remove it from the house, according to Sgt. Rudy Wagner, spokesman for Gaithersburg police. The report was forwarded to Montgomery County Police's firearms unit.

On July 28 the aunt delivered a letter to county police Chief J. Thomas Manger outlining her concerns and listing items she found in her nephew's bedroom, including detailed research about the effects of the chemicals found at McKenzie-Gude's home.

After the letter was opened, an official investigation was launched, said Capt. Darryl McSwain, commander of the 1st District, who also said "corrective action" has been taken to ensure that all citizen reports are taken seriously.

On the morning of July 29, McKenzie-Gude drove the 17-year-old to his job as an intern at the 1st District. When they arrived, police asked McKenzie-Gude whether he owned any illegal weapons or explosives. He said no and ran to the parking lot and sped away, Feeney said in court Tuesday.

At 12:30 p.m. that day, investigators conducted a search of his parents' home on Rockhurst Road, where the weapons and other evidence were found.

Less than an hour before the search, police allege McKenzie-Gude assaulted an elderly man outside White Flint Mall and attempted to steal his car, leaving behind his cell phone.

McKenzie-Gude surrendered to police on July 30 on an initial round of weapons and explosives charges. He was released on $115,000 bond, then arrested a second time on July 31 on new charges that he detonated homemade explosives in Gaithersburg.

"He's devastated," said McKenzie-Gude's lawyer Steven Kupferberg following a court hearing on Monday. He described his client as a "fine student."

Kupferberg questioned the newest charges, saying the allegations followed his request to dismiss the second set of explosives charges.

"I kindly call it ironic," said Kupferberg. "There has been a rush to justice in this case."

The friends

McKenzie-Gude and the 17-year-old had been friends for the "past few years," but it wasn't until the past year that they became nearly inseparable, the aunt said. Both were members of the school's air rifle team and Junior ROTC, with the 17-year-old rising to the rank of cadet lieutenant colonel.

She said her nephew was a natural learner engrossed in learning about insects at a young age, and learning three to four thousand Japanese characters by the age of 13.

"He has a very inquisitive mind," she said. "He was always trying to figure something out."

In the past year he has had an interest in model rocketry, and in recent months that interest turned specifically to chemicals, she said.

"What we find in the bomb community is that most of the young adults who experiment with chemicals and making bombs are your intelligent honor students in chemistry and science," Korenblatt said. "They're the ones."

Neighbors in Bethesda's Ashburton neighborhood, where McKenzie-Gude lived, knew very little about Gude, a retired Air Force captain who works in headquarters at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and his wife, Debra A. McKenzie-Gude, a homemaker with a master's degree in social work.

"I didn't know Collin, and my boys didn't either," said Carol Haile, who lives across the street from the family's home. She characterized Gude as "the most mild-mannered person you'd ever meet."

Calls to St. John's and The Woods Academy in Bethesda, where court records indicate McKenzie-Gude was employed, were not returned.

"We have no comments to make to the press," said Debra A. McKenzie-Gude.

The 17-year-old's parents are currently in the midst of divorce proceedings, according to the father and court documents.

The aunt and the teen's father were both former political prisoners in the Soviet Union during the 1980s; they were brought to the United States in 1987.

The aunt said Collin McKenzie-Gude had "brainwashed" her nephew.

"He looked up to him," the 17-year-old's father said. "It was always ëCollin's so smart. Collin's so this, Collin's so that.'"

Kupferberg said the 17-year-old has been "lying."