Two Rancho Bernardo High School students were taken into custody on Thursday on suspicion of being involved with a threat of gun violence, which led to lockdowns at RBHS and the adjacent Bernardo Heights Middle School in San Diego County.
A third student was detained for allegedly taking a photo of the threat, written in a message and left in a restroom. The student allegedly passed the photo on to a fellow student, along with a statement asserting that he hoped the student would be a victim of the supposed planned shooting.
The unfounded threats prompted a several-hour lockdown at the two campuses starting around noon while authorities investigated and determined that there was no such violence in the offing.
Administrators kept all students and staffers secured in their classrooms and offices while officers searched the high school, finding no weapons or other hazards. The lockdown was lifted about 2 p.m., Poway Unified School District spokeswoman Christine Paik said.
Investigators determined that a separate menacing message regarding Rancho Bernardo High had been issued Wednesday on the social-media application Snapchat, SDPD Capt. Stephanie Rose told reporters.
It was not immediately clear if the person or people behind the online posting -- which included a photo of an airsoft pellet gun resembling a real firearm -- also was responsible for the bathroom note, which claimed that a "boy'' would carry out a shooting at the school at 1:10 this afternoon, the captain said.
The three suspects were questioned and then turned over to their parents, Rose said. It was not immediately clear if the youths will face criminal charges in the case, the captain told news crews.
