Photo by Tucker Judkins
Online Managing Editor
South Pasadena High School was put under lockdown this morning after a threat to the school was posted on social media. Administrators ordered students to stay in their first period classes while police investigated the situation, after the threat of gun violence was made.
Principal Janet Anderson initiated the lockdown at 9:43 AM, informing the school about the social media threat, and asking students to remain calm during the lockdown. The threat was initially posted days previously, according to student who witnessed it on the suspect’s Snapchat story. The threat depicted an image of multiple guns and ammunition, with the caption, “3 replies and I’ll shoot up the school.”
According to some of the students who initially witnessed the social media post, the image of the multiple guns displayed was a picture taken from Google images, and the threat was only “a joke.”
Law enforcement found the 17-year-old male in San Bernardino, after being unable to find him at his home in South Pasadena. The suspect turned himself in and is now in the custody of South Pasadena Police. SPHS administrators then lifted the lockdown status, which lasted more than two hours.
The motivation for the alleged threat is yet to be determined. He is currently being questioned at the South Pasadena Police Department, and will most likely be transferred to a juvenile detention center for further investigation, according to Sergeant Spencer Louie, who is currently heading the investigation.
