SAN MARCOS — Authorities arrested a 12-year-old child on Oct. 7 in Los Angeles County on suspicion of phoning a bomb threat to San Marcos High School.
Officers and deputies with the Sheriff’s Department, CSUSM University Police Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to a report of a potential bomb threat at 8:06 a.m. on Friday, placing the school on lockdown a few minutes later.
Students were immediately told to shelter in place, and law enforcement swept the campus for any suspicious devices or materials related to the threat, according to the Sheriff’s Department. Students arriving at school were sent home with their parents, and students and staff members remaining at the school were released shortly before 11 a.m.
San Marcos Unified School District officials later announced that no threats were discovered on campus after a thorough search.
Shortly afterward, detectives identified a possible suspect from Los Angeles County. At 7 a.m. Saturday, sheriff’s detectives served a warrant at a home in LA County and confirmed that the phone used to call in the threat was found in the bedroom of a 12-year-old, authorities said.
The San Marcos sheriff’s station confirmed that the child was arrested and released to the mother’s custody.
The San Marcos Unified School District, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, California Highway Patrol, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and canine units from the Cal State San Marcos Police Department were involved in the arrest, authorities said.
The child’s identity was not released due to the suspect’s age.
The Coast News reporter Laura Place and City News Service contributed to this report.
