Beaumont, Redlands HS Students Bring Weapons To Campuses: Police

BEAUMONT, CA — A student at Beaumont High School was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of possessing two knives and a baton on campus. The arrest came a day before an Orangewood High School student in Redlands was found with an unloaded handgun on that campus.

In both cases, local police say there is no ongoing threat to safety, but there has been concern about an uptick in violence at schools across the region.

In Tuesday's incident at BHS, a school resource officer was given information by a student that two other students had been heard discussing a shooting on campus, according to the Beaumont Police Department.

"Officers quickly identified both students and began investigating the threats," the department reported.

During the investigation, one of the students, an 18-year-old, was arrested for possessing two knives and baton on campus.

"This student did not have a firearm in their possession," Beaumont police confirmed.

"At this time, we do not believe there is any ongoing threat to school safety, however, this case is still under investigation," the department reported.

The student's identity was not released by police or school officials.

Following the incident, the BUSD sent out a statement to families encouraging parents to speak to their kids about responsible behavior on and off campus. The statement also encouraged students to speak up when they see or hear anything that could be a threat to school safety.

"We ask that we all do our part to ensure that our students have access to a safe, secure, and welcoming learning environment," the BHS statement read.

Anyone with additional information about the BHS incident is asked to contact Detective Sgt.Macias at 951-769-8500.

The Beaumont incident came the day before Redlands police arrested an 18-year-old Orangewood High School student after he was found with an unloaded handgun on that campus.

School administrators called police Wednesday after learning that James Anthony Jones of San Bernardino had brought a gun onto the campus, the Redlands Police Department reported.

"Campus security contacted Jones and located a backpack containing the gun," Redlands police said.

The weapon was an unserialized "ghost gun." Officers also found stolen property from multiple vehicle burglaries that occurred outside of Redlands, police reported.

Jones was arrested on suspicion of felony possession of a firearm on school grounds and possession of stolen property, according to Redlands police.

"There is no indication that Jones made any threats against anyone on the campus and no ammunition or other weapons were located," Redlands police said. "The investigation is continuing."

After Wednesday's OHS arrest, the Redlands Police Department reported that another threat of school violence was circulating on social media, but on Thursday it was determined the threat was unfounded.

Further south, a series of threatening messages indicating there were would be acts of violence committed at Corona High School were determined to be fake, following an investigation by police, authorities said Thursday.

On Wednesday, Corona-Norco Unified School District Superintendent Sam Buenrostro issued a statement saying the recent shooting at a high school in Oxford, Michigan, which killed four and wounded seven youths, would likely "trigger an increase in threats targeting schools."

"We want to reassure our community that any threat to CNUSD schools, real or fake, is taken seriously and is investigated to the full extent," the superintendent said. "We would like to take this opportunity to remind you we remain committed to protecting the safety of our students and staff, and we would like to ask our parents to please speak with your teens about the severity of making fake threats."

Last month, following an incident at Beaumont High School, the Beaumont Police Department reported it was "seeing an increase in incidents of misconduct, vandalism, and violence on our school campuses. While these incidents have increased at the high school, many other area school districts have seen similar increases."