13-year-old arrested in connection to threats made against Live Oak Middle School | Update

LIVE OAK, Calif. — Update 1:00 p.m.:

The Sutter County Sheriff's Office said it was able to identify the person threatening a school shooting by tracking down their online address — it was a 13-year-old.

A search of the child's house consented by his parents failed to turn up any weapons, deputies say. The child was booked into juvenile hall on multiple charges, including making terrorist threats.

Original story:

After parents reported an anonymous social media account threatening to harm Live Oak Middle School students, Sutter County Sheriff's Office deputies were sent to the school to ensure nothing materializes.

Officials at the middle school said the Facebook post targeting students threatened to carry out a shooting on campus. The anonymous account has since been deleted.

Undersheriff Scott Smallwood said they weren't taking any chances, and decided to deploy a visible law enforcement presence so students can feel safe.

"We wanted to err on the side of precaution. Hopefully it's nothing, but we are beefing up security presence on campus," he told ABC10. "It was not a direct threat."

The sheriff's office started an investigation into the threat to determine the post author's identify — whether they are a student or not.

California legislators drafted a bill in 2015 making threats of violence on school grounds a new crime, though it was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown after he deemed the bill unnecessary.

School shootings were at an all-time low in 2020 as a result of campuses shutting down for remote learning during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of shootings on campus shot back up beginning in April as schools reopened.

Not much is known about the threats made toward Live Oak Middle School as the investigation is ongoing, Smallwood said.

"We're still looking into it, checking web addresses, things like that we have to work toward to confirm if it's an actual real (account) or what we call a 'ghost website', which is either fake or not local people," he said.

UPDATE: 1:00 p.m.

The Sutter County Sheriff's Office said it was able to identify the person threatening a school shooting by tracking down their online address — it was a 13-year-old boy.

A search of the suspects house consented by his parents failed to turn up any weapons, and the boy was booked into juvenile hall on numerous charges, including terrorist threats.

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