Man accused of making threats to San Gabriel Valley schools
A 26-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of making phone threats last week against several schools and a hospital in the San Gabriel Valley, authorities said Tuesday evening.
Gerardo Cortez, 26, was taken into custody around 4 p.m Tuesday as he was leaving his Monrovia home, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Authorities were searching Cortez’s home Tuesday evening as his arrest was being announced at a news conference at the Sheriff’s Department’s headquarters in Monterey Park.
The threats forced lockdowns at schools in Arcadia, Duarte and Monrovia and disrupted operations at the hospital in Covina, according to authorities.
Authorities said that a caller in some of the phone calls stated said that a person with a gun was near the campuses.
The investigation involved multiple law enforcement agencies.
Agents from the Los Angeles office of the FBI joined the investigation last Thursday as Arcadia High School was locked down and officers were searching the campus.
On Tuesday afternoon, Duarte High School and an intermediate school that shares the same campus were placed on lockdown after a telephone report came in saying there was a person with a gun in the area, authorities said.
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Twitter: @LAJourno
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