Poway: Student believed to be involved with threatening letter to teacher, classmates taken into custody

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An email threatening that students and a teacher would be shot at a Poway middle school prompted deputies to take a 12-year-old boy into custody and then to a hospital, sheriff’s officials said today.

The email was sent Friday night to an administrator at Twin Peaks Middle School. It warned that a teacher, whose name was withheld, and 23 students would be shot Monday and made references to 3,000 rounds of ammunition and numerous firearms, according to sheriff’s officials.

Deputies learned of the threat Saturday morning and detectives worked with school district officials and a multi-agency technology-related crimes task force to find the source of the email, sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Ross said.

The 12-year-old Twin Peaks Middle School student was identified by detectives as a possible suspect, Ross said.

About 5:30 p.m. Saturday detectives served a search warrant at that student’s residence. Several computers and numerous rifles and handguns were seized, sheriff’s officials said.

Sheriff’s Capt. Bill Donahue told reporters at a news conference that the five rifles, three shotguns and three handguns had been locked up at the time the search warrant was served.

The child did not have access to the weapons, he said.

The student was taken into custody and was admitted to a hospital for treatment and evaluation, Ross said.

Sheriff’s officials said the case would be submitted to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office for review and evaluation.

“There is no evidence to suggest anyone else was involved in making the threats and it is believed to be an isolated incident,” Ross said.

“Making a terrorist threat is a felony in the state of California,” Ross said. “The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and the Poway Unified School District take all threats to school safety seriously and will continue to thoroughly investigate all such threats.”

Sheriff’s officials said students who hear threats of violence or potential violence should contact a school resource officer or call the Crime Stoppers Students Speaking Out Tip Line at 888-580-8477, or the sheriff’s department at 858-565-5200.