SAN BERNARDINO >> A 14-year-old student is behind bars after several threats were made toward two San Bernardino high schools on social media Monday, school district officials said Tuesday morning.
Authorities would not release the identity of the teen arrested but did say that both Indian Springs and Arroyo Valley high schools would be in session Tuesday, according to Maria Garcia, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino Unified School District. She confirmed the 14-year-old is a student of the district but said she didn’t know what school he attended.
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“The social media threats have been determined to be a hoax,” read a Facebook post addressing the threats. The incident was handled by school police officers, but San Bernardino police were made aware of the incident.
School police are also investigating an unrelated online threat made toward San Gorgonio High School, Garcia said.
“We have not made any arrests in that case, but (police) are still investigating,” she said.
Little information was released on that incident.
Monday’s posts began to show up on one person’s Facebook account Monday afternoon and threatened: “ISHS and AVHS Better start interviewing new principals And new teachers.”
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The series of eight posts continued the threats through the evening, including one that indicated more than one person would be targeting five buildings at Indian Springs High School.
Monday night’s unfounded threats came less than a month after someone made threats toward Alta Loma High School in Rancho Cucamonga. San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Rancho Cucamonga investigators determined the Twitter posts were not a viable threat.
“It’s important for people to understand that what may start as a joke or rant can go too far,” said Deputy Jake Bailey, spokesman for the sheriff’s Rancho Cucamonga station, adding that children and teens need to use social media responsibly.