4 Los Angeles High Schools Respond To Threats

LOS ANGELES, CA — Police responded to threats — all determined not to be credible — at four Los Angeles County high schools Monday.

Los Angeles police responded to threats at Fairfax High School, Hamilton High School and Palisades Charter High School Monday, police said. Santa Monica Police responded to a "disturbing social media post" on Snapchat at Santa Monica High School Monday morning as well, Samohi Principal Antonio Shelton said.

The "threatening" Snapchat post at Samohi was determined to be unrelated to the other three, and a student was removed from campus and searched early Monday morning.

Fairfax High School was placed on lockdown Monday, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Unified School District said. Police investigated and searched the campus and found no evidence of a credible threat. School resumed the remainder of Monday, the spokesperson said.

Hamilton High was not placed on lockdown, the spokesperson said. The school did not receive direct threats, but rather staff and students saw public social media posts that "raised safety concerns" for the campus. Police conducted an investigation and determined there was no credible threat, the spokesperson said.

Police determined all four threats were not credible, but it is unclear if the incidents at Fairfax High, Hamilton High or Pali High were related.

"At L.A. Unified, the safety of our students and staff is our top priority. L.A. Unified takes all threats to our school community very seriously," a spokesperson for LAUSD said.

There was also some confusion over what appeared to be a threat at St. Monica Catholic High School Monday. Santa Monica Police Department determined the perceived threat involved a school in Northern California by the same name, Drati said.

Even so, St. Monica Catholic High School in Santa Monica canceled in-person instruction Tuesday.

Related: Santa Monica Students Return To Campus; Other Schools See Threats

Hollywood High School reported a similar incident over the weekend, according to a student group on campus. The student group shared an email sent to the Hollywood High School community saying the school was investigating a non-credible threat on Sunday.

The school said in the email it would increase security Monday out of an abundance of caution.

It is unclear whether Samohi or Hollywood High were placed on lockdown. A student at Palisades High School shared a video of students leaving the school, though it's unclear whether it showed a formal lockdown or simply an evacuation.

A Buena Park High School student was arrested Monday on suspicion of posting a threat against the school. School went to campus Monday after police located the student who had posted the threat Sunday.

The suspect found a photo online of someone holding a gun and posted it to the TikTok social media app with the threat, "Don't come to school tomorrow if you (want to) live," Buena Park police Sgt. Chad Waver said.

The investigations comes on the heels of a shooting that killed four students and injured many more at a high school in Oxford, Michigan. It was the deadliest school shooting since 2018, according to Education Week.

Patch contacted the Los Angeles Unified School District, Palisades Charter High School and Fairfax High School for comment.

City News Service Contributed to this story.

This story was edited on Dec. 10 at 5:48 p.m. to include additional details about the incident at Hamilton High.