Suspect behind ‘intolerable’ school shooting threats arrested, Fresno police say
Officers arrested a 23-year-old Fresno man they said was behind the shooting threats made at three local high schools, police said Tuesday.
He attempted to hide his name and phone information, but police said they arrested Jose Luis Castaneda for threats made at Bullard, Edison and Fresno high schools on Monday.
Castaneda was tracked to an apartment complex in the area of Dakota and Hughes avenues before he was taken into custody, police said. He was booked into Fresno County Jail on suspicion of criminal threats, which is a felony crime.
He is held in lieu of $15,000 in bail, according to jail records.
“Criminal actions such as these have a tremendous negative impact upon our community and are intolerable,” police said in a Tuesday news release. “The Fresno Police Department, along with all of our local, state and federal law enforcement partners, will investigate each and every threat made against our schools and our children and will hold those responsible accountable.”
Lt. Bill Dooley said police have found no indication that Castaneda intended to actually carry out any shooting at any campus.
Threat to shoot up the school
In a post on its Facebook page Monday, the Fresno Police Department said it was aware of threats made toward the high schools.
In a message to his staff, Edison High School Principal Jose Munoz said that the school had received “a threatening anonymous phone call” that “someone was going to shoot up the school.”
Threats have been common in recent weeks in Fresno and around the state.
Sunnyside High received a similar threat on Oct. 4, according to police.
Police detained a 14-year-old who was involved in making threats to shoot students at Edison High School last month. A suspicious phone call to Clovis High School prompted students to shelter in classrooms about a week before that.
Fresno police rushed to Bullard High School in September after a telephone threat that two men with AR-15 rifles were shooting students on the campus. Police called that a hoax.
