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Suspect arrested in connection with Torrey Pines school threat

REGION — A 21-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a threat of violence that led to the closure of Torrey Pines High School today, according to San Diego police. Kevin Gregory Matlak was taken into custody in the 3300 Fenelon Street in Point Loma early this afternoon and booked into county jail on suspicion of a felony count of making criminal threats.

“Early this morning we received information from (the San Diego Police Department) regarding a threat to Torrey Pines High School,” Principal Rob Coppo said in a statement on the school’s Facebook page. “The threat included weapons and came from a former student.”

San Diego police were notified of the threat around 9:40 p.m. Wednesday, Capt. Daryl Hoover said, adding that the threat “included the possible use of weapons.”

Detectives from the San Diego Police Department’s northwestern division were “actively investigating the incident and … working closely with school administration and district representatives,” Hoover said.

There was nobody in custody as of 8:30 a.m. Thursday, the captain said.

Officials from the school and the district decided to close the campus on Del Mar Heights Road “in an abundance of caution,” Coppo said in the statement that was posted just after 7 a.m. School officials also reportedly sent an email to parents alerting them to the closure, and calls to the campus’ main phone line were answered with a message announcing the closure.

Coppo said that in addition to classes, all other school related activities would be canceled Thursday, and parents were asked to “keep your
students home today.”

The threat is at least the third made against Torrey Pines High since the Feb. 14 shooting massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

A 16-year-old boy who was not a student at Torrey Pines High was arrested Feb. 23 for threatening a shooting at the school. His arrest came just a day after a 14-year-old freshman at the campus was arrested for allegedly making threatening verbal and written statements.

Those arrests came amid an onslaught of threats and subsequent arrests at local schools following the shooting that killed 17 people at the Florida high school. In March, just over a month after the Parkland shooting, Interim San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan announced that nine juveniles had been arrested and charged in connection to 19 different threats.

Anyone with information about the threat that closed Torrey Pines High today was urged to call San Diego County Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.

The public can also anonymously report threats and other suspicious activity in schools by visiting studentsspeakingout.org.