The motive for Needville school arson: teen angst?

A 16-year-old student who has admitted to setting the fire that destroyed part of Needville High School on April 13 is expected to turn himself in to authorities today — and it looks like we're already getting a taste of what his defense will be.

The teen, whose name has not been released, spent a couple of hours yesterday talking with Fort Bend County investigators about his role in the fire, which destroyed the school's administrative offices — including students' completed TAKS test booklets — and several classrooms. There was initial speculation that the fire might have been set by a student who wanted to cover up his or her performance on the TAKS, but the student's attorney, Steven Rocket Rosen, said the test wasn't the reason for the arson — teen angst was. "We're talking about 16-year-old boys in high school, fighting peer pressure, fighting sports, fighting grades, fighting mothers and fathers," Rosen told KTRK. "Nothing that's unusual, but taken to heart more so than maybe the next young man." It should be interesting to see how that defense goes over with all the other angst-ridden kids who don't choose to burn down their schools to deal with their high school problems.

No details on the investigation have been released yet, but Rosen said the student is to be commended for coming forward and admitting that he set the fire: "He was man enough to come forward and say this is how it happened and speak to the authorities, and where the chips fall, they fall," he told the Chronicle. But according to KHOU, the student had already talked so much at school that it doesn't sound like his actions were any secret: "He was telling everybody that he did it and thinking nobody was going to tell on him," classmate Shelbie Farquar told Channel 11. "He told like six different people that he did it." That doesn't really seem to jive with Rosen's characterization of the student: "He feels horrible. I mean, he's devastated," Rosen told KHOU. "He's received a knockout blow." Rosen also said the student has suffered from mental health issues for the past few months, but sources told KHOU that he never told anyone about any such problems and never asked for help. Not that it matters either way: Houstonist doesn't know many 16-year-old boys who with enough self-awareness to go to someone and talk about their problems. But we also don't know many 16-year-old boys who start fires.

We're sure we'll hear many more details about the case in the days to come, including more about what the suspect was really like. Rosen called him a student who "does well in school, he's a good athlete, he's well liked." But a fellow student painted a different picture: "He was kind of struggling, he would have made the varsity team, but his grades kept him back," Cody Mendez told KHOU. "I was an office aide, and he was always getting in trouble with principals." It's not clear yet whether the student will be tried as an adult; if he is and is found guilty, he could face life in prison.