Lakewood High Student In Custody After Posting Gun, Warning Online

LAKEWOOD, CA -- A 15-year-old Lakewood High School student suspected of posting an image of himself holding what appeared to be handgun, along with a message warning fellow students not to go to school, was in sheriff's custody Wednesday.

The image was posted on Monday evening on Instagram, according to Detective Ronnie Borges of the sheriff's Lakewood Station.

Students and parents saw the post and someone called the station to report it, Borges said.

Deputies identified the teen, went to his home and found a pellet gun that is believed to be the one he held in the posting, the detective said.

The boy, whose name was withheld because he's a juvenile, was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats. The case has been submitted to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for the possible filing of charges, Borges said.

"We took it serious, obviously, especially in today's day and age," he said. "We did not take it lightly."

Borges warned young people and anyone else for that matter to "think before they post."

"You don't know how someone might take a post," he said. "Even if you are just joking around, it doesn't mean other people will think that."

-- City News Service, photo via Shutterstock