A teenager is being held in juvenile detention after allegedly calling to report a shooting at an Elk Grove high school in an attempt to stay home from school.
Elk Grove police arrested the 14-year-old on Thursday. He is charged with making a criminal threat and was being held in the Sacramento County Juvenile Detention Center, Elk Grove police said in a statement. The teen’s name is not being released due to his age, but police say he is a student at a nearby high school. Detectives say the teen acted alone.
Police allege the teen called 911 to say Harriet Eddy Middle School was the target of the shooting. The 14-year-old used someone else’s phone to report the false threat and used another person’s name when speaking to 911 dispatchers, police said.
Elk Grove police urged parents to talk to their children about false threats and the consequences.
“We understand the concern and fear that these types of threats create in our community. Please know that threats are taken seriously and investigated to the fullest extent possible,” Elk Grove plice said in a statement. “Parents, use this as an opportunity to talk to your children about the seriousness of making threats.”
Thursday’s threat was the latest in a series of unfounded threats on campuses by young people in Northern California and elsewhere in the U.S. in the weeks since the deadly Sept. 4 shooting at a Georgia high school.
Incidents include the recent arrests of a 14-year-old CK McClatchy High School student on suspicion of making criminal threats; a 15-year-old suspected of threatening schools in the Galt Unified School District; and arrests in Lodi, Manteca, Modesto and Newman, Stanislaus County.
