Official: Ind. student had snakes, 100 knives for h.s. plot

SOUTH BEND, Ind. Authorities in northern Indiana say they've detained a student in a plot to attack his high school after they found more than 100 knives and several illegal snakes at his home.
Prosecutor Michael Dvorak says his office is preparing to charge the teen from Mishawaka with conspiracy to commit murder. The boy is being held Thursday at a juvenile detention facility.
Investigators say he was planning a mass attack at Penn High School. They say they discovered the plot while investigating an unrelated threat found in a school restroom in January,
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

Unless these were throwing knives a hundred knives wouldn't be any better than two at the most. And what kind of snakes? What unassuming snakes might possibly be illegal in Indiana? Smacks of a Prosecutor in need of some publicity or a distraction. Just doesn't make any sense to me.

100 knives distributed among 100 people is probably the threat they are considering, lol
though the image of anybody wandering around with that quantity of knives strapped to him is somewhat amusing (disturbing?).
I have over 100 knives, and snakes...I wonder if that means I am plotting against my high school? I guess I'm not getting the reason that the snakes were mentioned in the article - unless he was planning on hurling them at people???
(Yes, I understand that they are illegal, but was there a reason, other than sensationalism, that they were in the title? It certainly reads as if the snakes are part of the plot)

My guess is that they were investigating some potential threat that fizzled out and would have left them looking stupid. Then they heard about this kid that had a hundred knives and some snakes that were not legal (and I would guess also not hot) and now they had something to distract the public from the failure of their original investigation. The kid likely has an honest interest in collecting knives and snakes. I admit that I am reading a lot into this story with little info to go on, but this is my initial impression.