Arrest Made In Threats Against Freedom High School: Oakley PD

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA — Authorities have arrested a 19-year-old man on suspicion of making a series of what police allege were terrorist threats against Freedom High School in Oakley. Tristan Amir Curl, 19, was taken into custody in Austin, Texas by law enforcement including personnel with the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office and the Oakley Police Department.

Curl — originally from Oakley — is a student at St. Edward's University in Austin, where he was arrested late Tuesday by the investigators who traveled from the East Bay to Texas to serve a series of warrants related to their months-long investigation of the threats.

Oakley police said that beginning in August, a person sent threatening Snapchat messages to a group of female students at Freedom High School. That same Snapchat account holder then allegedly began to distribute more threatening messages — first to a group of other students and ultimately, to the entire campus and school staff.

A subsequent threat to Deer Valley High School in Antioch was deemed to have "no credibility" by Antioch Unified School District officials, as Patch previously reported.

In a statement Tuesday about Curl's arrest, Oakley police described the alleged messages as "terrorist" in nature and said investigators recovered "a significant amount of evidence that links Curl to all of the threats that were made in the community."

While the nature of the alleged threats was not disclosed by police, Freedom High School's principal said previously that reference was made to the Columbine school shooting, with implications that the Oakley campus would be similarly targeted on Oct. 24, 2018.

Given the spate of recent school shootings, members of the community were "terrorized" by the threats, to the point of it affecting student attendance at the targeted campuses, Oakley police said.

" ... Some members of the community have suffered significant psychological trauma, wondering if the subject would follow through on his statements," police said.

The DA's Office and the FBI "provided significant assistance, providing direct assistance to our department, while many of our officers were assigned to increased security duties at the school campus," police said.

On Tuesday, Oakley police thanked their Austin counterparts for the assist: "The Austin Police Department immediately responded to assist our investigators, and we are indebted to them for their assistance."

Curl will next be processed for extradition back to California.

" OPD officers will return to escort Curl back to Contra Costa County once his extradition has been approved through the courts," police said.

Meanwhile, federal, county and local authorities continue to investigate the case, which includes trying to determine a possible motive and whether Curl may have intended to carry out the alleged threats.

"Our investigators will be returning to Contra Costa County to prepare to file their case for review by the Contra Costa DA’s Office and the United States Attorney’s Office," police said.

"We want to thank the staff and families of the school district for their patience during this investigation," said Oakley police Chief Chris Thorsen. "It has taken long hours of work by our detectives, and the members of all the allied agencies that assisted us in this case. The DA’s Office and the FBI were fully involved in all aspects of this investigation all the way to the arrest. There are still additional questions that we are trying to understand, including the motivation for the threats and if he intended to carry out any of his threats."

Anyone with information that might prove useful to the police investigation is urged to email the Oakley Police Department at OPD@ci.oakley.ca.us.

Downtown Austin Patch Editor Tony Cantu contributed to this report.

Photo via Oakley Police Department/City of Oakley Facebook page