Deputies Find Assault Rifles, Thwarting School Shooting Plot

WHITTIER, CA — A Los Angeles County high school school shooting plot was thwarted just days after the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting, authorities said. Criminal threats were overheard on the El Camino High School campus Feb. 16, but quick thinking by an El Camino High School security officer may have prevented a "potentially dangerous outcome," according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell.

McDonnell said investigators responded to a report by Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District resource Officer Marino Chavez, who overheard the student threatening that "he was going to shoot up the school sometime in the next three weeks."

Deputies searched the home of a 17-year-old student who allegedly threatened to shoot up the school and found AR-15 rifles, two handguns and 90 high-capacity ammunition magazines, Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said. The teen's older brother, a 19- year-old Army veteran, claimed to own the guns, but only one was registered to the older brother, who was arrested, said McDonnell. The El Camino High School student was arrested for making criminal threats.

On Friday, deputies responded to the school to investigate a report of criminal threats, according to Deputy Lillian Peck.

A student who got into an argument with a teacher at a South Whittier high school over a set of headphones allegedly threatened to "shoot up the campus," leading to a search of the student's home and the discovery of a cache of weapons, authorities said Wednesday.

"Deputies learned a school security officer overheard a disgruntled student threaten the occurrence of a shooting at the school," Peck said.

An investigation of that student's home resulted in the collection of weapons and ballistic evidence, and the intervention of a potential threat to life, according to Peck.

It wasn't immediately clear if that student was arrested. School districts across southern California have been on edge, alerting parents as to safety plans at schools across southern California following the deadly massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead.

Robert Jacobsen, and attorney for the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District, told reporters the student got into an argument with a teacher over a set of headphones. A short time later, a school security officer allegedly overheard the student making threatening remarks.

"The safety officer did engage the student, and the student did comment that in three weeks he was going to bring a gun to school," indicating he was going to "shoot up the campus," Jacobsen said.

No weapons were found on the student at the time, officials said.

The security officer notified school officials, who contacted the sheriff's department.

Chavez told reporters the teen remarked "that within three weeks there would be a school shooting on campus."

"He did say that he was just kidding, that he did not mean it," Chavez said. "I said, `Well, you can't say those things on a school campus."'

Chavez said he took the teen to the school's office, where he confirmed the remark, prompting Chavez to contact the sheriff's department.

"He was angry with the teacher's issue about his (earphones) in class and he was not allowed to go to her class the next day, so he was supposed to go to the office," Chavez said.

City News Service contributed to this report.

Photo Credit: School district security officer Marino Chavez talks during a news conference in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018. Chavez, a security officer at El Camino High School, overheard a student threaten to open fire at his Southern California high school, allowing officials to thwart the plot just days after a deadly shooting in Florida, authorities said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Mike Balsamo)