REGION — A 16-year-old boy was arrested Feb. 23 on suspicion of threatening a shooting at Torrey Pines High School, a day after a 14-year-old THPS freshman was arrested for allegedly making threatening verbal and written statements toward the campus, police said.
The Feb. 23 threat, made public by police for the first time Feb. 26, involved a juvenile who did not attend the high school, San Diego police acting Capt. Paul Phillips said.
Juvenile-service officers from SDPD were made aware some time Feb. 23 that the unidentified 16-year-old allegedly “made a threat to conduct a shooting at the school,” Phillips said. Officers immediately launched an investigation that identified the non-student suspect.
“The juvenile was located, a search of his residence was conducted and no firearms were located,” Phillips said. “The subject was taken to juvenile hall. The investigation is ongoing.”
That arrest came a day after a 14-year-old freshman at the school was questioned and later arrested about threats he allegedly made, SDPD public-affairs Officer Joshua Hodge said. After interviewing the 14-year-old about the purported comments, which had led to his suspension from school on Feb. 21, juvenile-services officers arrested him on suspicion of issuing criminal threats and took him to juvenile hall for booking.
Both suspects’ names were withheld because they are minors. Details on the nature of the alleged threatening statements were not made public.
Several similar threats were made at San Diego-area campuses last week, and about 20 threatening graffiti messages were found scrawled on walls around Rancho Bernardo High School on Feb. 26. The surge in such incidents has followed the shooting that left 17 people dead on Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Thus far, the majority of threats or perceived threats at San Diego County schools have turned out to be unfounded.
The pair of threats at TPHS are the only two known to have resulted in arrests.
-— City News Service
