Police still on alert after new social media threat against O.C. high schools deemed not credible

Multiple Orange County schools will continue to have an increased police presence this week even after investigators deemed threats on social media of campus shootings to be not credible, authorities said.

Buena Park police were alerted to a second Instagram post Wednesday after Anaheim police arrested a teenager Tuesday who allegedly posted on Instagram about shootings that would happen Friday at four high schools.

The latest post came from a different account that was traced back to a Buena Park resident, said Anaheim police spokeswoman Kristina Hamm. It raised public alarms that Anaheim police had arrested the wrong person.

But the second post was eventually determined to be a reposting of the first threat.

The 14-year-old boy arrested Tuesday, a Western High School freshman, in connection with the original threat is still in custody, she said, and Anaheim police are convinced they arrested the right person. Hamm emphasized that the threats were found to be false alarms.

“We don’t believe there’s any credible threat right now, we haven’t found any means or any evidence that would indicate there would be the capacity to pull off this threat,” Hamm said. “No weapons, no maps, no detailed plots of that nature.”

In his original post Sunday, the teen allegedly said there would be shootings on Friday at Magnolia, Western, Cypress and Buena Park high schools.

Buena Park police determined that the second Instagram post was not a credible threat, said Lt. Tamra Banks.

It “is not a new threat, it is a reposting of the original threat that Anaheim investigated,” Banks said. “It’s caused a firestorm so we are still investigating to figure out who did the repost. … The comments that were made were not threats.”

Magnolia, Western and Cypress high schools will all have increased police presence throughout the week regardless, authorities said.

Buena Park police is not planning to provide additional security to Buena Park High School because “that threat has been deemed not credible … there’s no need for increased presence at the schools,” Banks said.

Reach Sonali Kohli at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com or on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli.