None of the recent threats have been deemed credible, but still two 12 year-olds were taken into custody. NBC 7’s Shandel Menezes reports.
Threats of campus violence have been made against elementary, middle and high schools across San Diego this week, authorities reported Wednesday.
The "numerous" threats of school violence have surfaced over the past several days from "various sources," according to the San Diego Police Department.
"Many of these threats have been repeated and reposted multiple times," an SDPD public statement asserted Wednesday afternoon. "Currently, there is no substantiated threat."
San Diego police have been in communication with other agencies to investigate the threats, many of which were "vague and contained no specific information," the agency said.
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"Numerous local schools were notified, and those schools took additional precautions and initiated their threat protocols," according to the SDPD statement. "The San Diego Police Department added additional patrol officers to the schools where threats were received to ensure public safety."
Police did not disclose the specific nature of the threats, reveal the exact manner by which they were issued or identify any of the involved campuses.
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At least two 12-year-olds have been identified to be behind similar messages this week, according to school administrators and police.
On Wednesday, the National City Police Department pinpointed one such threat toward National City Middle & Granger Junior High School to a 12-year-old student's social media post. The student admitted to creating the post as a threat and was placed under a mental evaluation, according to NCPD.
On Tuesday, a 12-year-old who attends Bonita Vista Middle School was arrested in connection with sending threatening messages, Chula Vista police said.
The threat quickly spread on social media and caused fear and concern on several campuses in the Sweetwater Union High School District. School resource officers say, based on the circumstances and additional context in the message threat that they didn't specify, they didn't think the threat was credible.
NCPD said threats targeting other schools in the area were traced to "spoofed" phone numbers.
For parents like Sabrina Weddle, who has a student in the Chula Vista Elementary School District, even unsubstantiated threats cause concern -- enough that Weddle kept her child out of school.
"They’re so young and they have to start their day with, ‘Mom, when are you going to buy me a bulletproof backpack?' 'Where's the nearest exit?' 'Should I listen to my teacher if something happens?'" Weddle said. “Even if they're just threats, some want to call them harmless, but they're not harmless threats. they hurt a lot of people.”
The CVESD asked parents to refrain from taking their kids out of school early or keep them home. Investigator Tom Czyz, who has investigated more than 60 school shootings, says during a real crisis, early pickup can make matters worse.
“It's hard not to go rush and want to be that hero for your child and get there and pick them up and make sure that they're OK and love them and hug them… I get that because I'm a father who's had this happen," Czyz said. "But at the same time, you need to leave the door and the roads open for law enforcement emergency personnel to be able to get there and be able to get out with victims.”
Czyz said companies investigating threats will be able to determine if calls are false or not in nearly all cases. When true acts are carried out, most investigations determine someone knew something but didn't speak up.
