Student who allegedly threatened to kill 3 teachers had gun, ammo

A high school senior in Yucca Valley who allegedly threatened to kill three teachers was keeping a cache of weapons at his home that included a loaded rifle, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, hunting knives and a crossbow, authorities said.

Matthew Ross, 18, of Twentynine Palms, was arrested Wednesday at Black Rock High School after being suspended for making the verbal threats, said San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Deputy Shaunna Ables.

“The threat was very real,” she said. “He had the means to carry it out if he wanted to.”

Ross was not carrying weapons at the time of his arrest but they were found during a search of his home, she added.

Ross verbally threatened to kill the three teachers on Tuesday afternoon, and had been accumulating ammunition over the course of two weeks, Ables said. He has no criminal history.

His motive for the alleged threat, she said, was about a perceived lack of respect.

Fearing for their lives, the teachers, who were not identified, locked their classroom doors Wednesday morning.

“They were definitely in fear,” Ables said.

Ross’ father told police that his son was upset when he came home from school Tuesday afternoon, but that he later calmed down, Ables said.

Photographs of the weapons, however, had recently starting showing up on his Facebook page.

Ross is being held on suspicion of criminal threats at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga in lieu of $50,000 bail.

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