4 Colorado State players suspended for bomb prank

1/13/2007 3:49 PM

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) -Four Colorado State women's basketball players were suspended for setting off a chemical bomb in a prank outside a teammate's apartment.

No injuries and no structural damage resulted, police said.

The four will be charged with one count of reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor, police spokeswoman Rita Davis said.

The four suspended players are freshmen: starting guards Emily Neal and Kelly Jo Mullaney and reserves Raysha Ritter and Brittney Stirling, police Detective David Grant said. The bomb, made of chemicals that create an explosive acid, went off Monday night outside the residence of Kally Rae Finley, police added.

``This is a case where four teammates were trying to play a prank on a teammate, and it went bad,'' Grant said. ``They thought the device would just make a loud bang, and that it would not be a big deal. It was not meant in a malicious way by any means. I know that Mullaney and Finley are very good friends.''

Athletic department spokesman Gary Ozello confirmed the indefinite suspensions Saturday. Coach Jen Warden said in Saturday's Fort Collins Coloradoan the suspended players would not be allowed to practice or sit on the bench for Saturday's home game against New Mexico.

The newspaper said Mullaney, Neal and Finley all played at the same Minnesota high school. A witness reported Mullaney's car and all four players confessed, Grant said.