KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Lake County Sheriff’s deputies on Monday morning took a juvenile into custody after Kelseyville Unified School District officials received information that the student had made a threat against Mountain Vista Middle School.
Lt. Corey Paulich confirmed that deputies took a 13-year-old male into custody on Monday morning.
Kelseyville Unified Superintendent Dave McQueen said that early Monday the district received information that a student had mentioned to other students that he wanted to “shoot up” Mountain Vista Middle School.
With the potential active shooter threat coming just days after a fatal shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita – which the district had spoken about in a Facebook post last week – McQueen said he took action out of an abundance of caution.
McQueen said that at that point nobody was on campus and that buses had just gone out.
He said the district immediately contacted the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, and he directed district school buses to a safe location and locked down all district schools. At the same time, the district posted updates on its Facebook page beginning shortly after 7 a.m.
Paulich said the district contacted the sheriff’s office about the threat at around 6:30 a.m. Monday.
Deputies were able to contact the student at about 7 a.m. at his home, Paulich said.
“He was just getting ready to get on the bus,” said Paulich.
“He was not armed,” Paulich added.
Paulich said deputies were able to determine that there were no other threats to the school, and transported the juvenile to the Probation Department for processing.
Shortly afterward, McQueen said the sheriff’s office informed the district that the juvenile of interest had been detained and the threat was nullified.
Shortly before 9 a.m., McQueen posted a brief report on the district's Facebook page.
“Once we knew the person who made the threat was in custody, we reopened schools and resumed bus service. In this day and age, we take every threat seriously. I’d rather overreact and keep everyone safe than assume a threat is idle talk from a student looking for attention. I appreciate the Sheriff’s deputies’ swift response and the KVUSD staff’s professionalism in handling the situation,” McQueen said in the Facebook post.
Later in the morning, McQueen told Lake County News that school was in session and things were back to normal on district campuses.
“I have to take everything seriously,” he said.
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