LOS ANGELES A 13-year-old boy was arrested and a rifle was seized after the teen threatened to shoot other students and staff at his Los Angeles-area middle school, authorities said Friday.
LOS ANGELES — A 13-year-old boy was arrested and a rifle was seized after the teen threatened to shoot other students and staff at his Los Angeles-area middle school, authorities said Friday.
Deputies serving a search warrant at the boy’s home Thursday discovered an AR-15-style gun, 100 rounds of ammunition, a list of names and a drawing of the school, said Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva.
The boy said he would carry out the shooting Friday at Animo Mae Jemison Charter Middle School in Willowbrook, Villanueva said at a news conference.
The boy was arrested without incident at his home on suspicion of making criminal threats, the sheriff said.
Investigators were trying to determine where he got the gun. In an earlier tweet, Undersheriff Tim Murakami made reference to a “ghost gun” being seized but Villanueva clarified the weapon in the threat case has a serial number.
Multiple students overheard the alleged threats and alerted teachers. School officials immediately notified the sheriff’s department.
Villanueva also disclosed another arrest of a juvenile had taken place in a separate case in Palmdale, north of Los Angeles. He said a high school student was taken into custody after making threats on social media after a campus fight that led to school suspensions. The sheriff said he did not believe a weapon was recovered.
Last week a 16-year-old boy used a ghost gun to fatally shoot two classmates and himself at Saugus High School in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita.
Villanueva said Thursday that Nathaniel Berhow’s .45 caliber, 1911-model replica semi-automatic pistol was assembled from gun parts and did not have a serial number.
Police don’t yet know where and when Berhow got the handgun or what his motive was for the shooting at Saugus High.
