A student from the San Diego suburb of Santee was arrested on suspicion of making a terrorist threat against his school. The student posted an image of a AR-15 assault rifle made of Legos and a threatening caption that warned students not to go to school the next day.
The San Diego County Sheriff's Department released the image featured in the post.
Warning Signs
The student that made the threatening post on Instagram is a 14-year-old ninth grader who attends West Hills High School. Authorities were alerted by the school's assistant principal late Tuesday (Feb. 27) night at around 10 p.m. The name of the student hasn't been released by the authorities.
The image used in the post was accompanied by the caption, "Don't come to school tomorrow." Another student who attends the school asked him to take down the picture, but he declined to do so. Authorities say that various students contacted the assistant principal, fearful of what this student would do.
Deputies tracked the student to his home in Lemon Grove and then spoke to his mother and stepfather and learned that he had access to hunting rifles. They say that they're trying to determine whether the student had access to more weapons.
San Diego Sheriff Bill Gore released the image of the AR-15 made of LEGOs that was posted by the student.
In response to media inquiries, here's a photo of the toy rifle that was mentioned in the threatening social media post about West Hills High School in @CityofSantee. If using this photo in your stories, please credit: "Courtesy of @SDSheriff. " pic.twitter.com/yee5fuLb33 — San Diego Sheriff (@SDSheriff) February 28, 2018
The student was booked on a felony charge of making a criminal threat and is being held at a juvenile hall.
The Sheriff's Department mentioned in their statement that it takes every threat seriously, saying that "nothing can be dismissed or ignored."
Another student, a 15-year-old, was also arrested in San Diego on Tuesday after he told students that he planned to shoot up the campus. The student told others not to attend school on Wednesday.
Police took the boy into custody immediately, and he was later arrested.
People have been on edge since the Parkland, Florida, shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14. Everything that can be seen as threatening is arousing suspicion.
Authorities and people don't want to miss any warning signs that can prevent another mass shooting from happening in the United States. Social media can alert others to someone's mental health.
