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Fresno teen in custody after Instagram threats lead police to guns in his room

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A threat posted by a 15-year-old boy’s Instagram account led to the closure of two Fresno schools and a search of the boy’s home, which turned up a cache of weapons and ammunition, police say.

The teenager, a sophomore at San Joaquin Memorial High School, is in police custody and undergoing a mental evaluation, according to Fresno police Sgt. Jaime Rios. His name is not being released because he is a minor. After his release from a local hospital, he will be booked into Fresno County juvenile hall, police said.

Police said the teenager posted the threat Monday afternoon in an Instagram post that referenced lyrics from two Eminem songs, “Rap God” and “I’m Back.” The lyrics, which mention the 1999 Columbine school shootings, include, “Put ‘em all in a line, add an AK-47, a revolver and a nine.”

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Another posted lyric, Rios said, included the line, “That’s a whole school of bullies shot up at one time.”

Someone responded to the post, writing, “Bring me with man, I got some stuff to settle.”

“I’ll text you when k,” the teenager’s account replied, adding a thumbs-up emoticon and another of an alien.

School officials contacted police Monday evening. Rios said officers searched the teen’s home with his father’s consent and found a long gun in the living room “in plain sight.”

Officers returned with a warrant later Monday to search the teen’s bedroom, and police said they found several other guns and boxes of ammunition hidden in an area under the floor of the boy’s closet, which was covered with a stack of boxes.

Investigators found a replica AK-47 Airsoft gun, a .357-Magnum revolver, a 12-gauge shotgun, a .22-caliber rifle, more than 100 rounds of ammunition and a box of shotgun shells, in addition to a bulletproof vest, Rios said.

Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer said in a news conference Tuesday that acquaintances described the teen as a socially awkward loner who had recently lost his mother and had been bullied at school. He recently quit the football team and broke up with his girlfriend, Dyer said.

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“We have every reason to believe that based on the information we have that there was a potential for a threat to be carried out,” Dyer told reporters. “Certainly, the weapons were present, the ammunition was present, and perhaps even the mindset was present to carry out those threats.”

San Joaquin Memorial and St. Anthony’s, a Catholic elementary school the teen previously attended, were closed Tuesday as a precaution, according to Mona Faulkner, superintendent of schools for the Catholic Diocese of Fresno.

The schools are expected to reopen Wednesday.

The teen faces a felony charge of making terrorist threats, and he may face charges over disrupting school, Dyer said.

The father could face charges of illegally possessing firearms despite an active restraining order against him, according to police. He could also be charged with negligent storing of the weapons, Dyer said.

Both the teenager and his father have denied ownership of the guns, police said.

The teen said that his Instagram account was hacked and that he had not posted the lyrics, police said. Authorities have seized an iPad and iPhone in addition to the guns, and forensic computer experts will be examining them, Dyer said.

Police released no other information about the person who responded to the Instagram post, but school officials said the person was a former student at San Joaquin Memorial who is no longer “attending a school in the Fresno vicinity.”

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Police said Tuesday that they would be in touch with that person.

For more breaking news, follow me @cmaiduc

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