School Shooting Threat Reported : Violence: South Gate teacher allegedly said he would mow down those in the faculty lounge. His attorney calls the charges overblown.

The South Gate kindergarten teacher who brought a loaded handgun on campus last week threatened to saw off a shotgun and mow down teachers in the faculty lounge, then kill himself, officials said Tuesday.

Raymond Jett Jr., who appeared in South Gate Municipal Court on Tuesday, made the threats against the staff at Montara Street Elementary School last Thursday evening in a telephone call to a substitute teacher, authorities said. Jett indicated that he was incensed that someone at the school had told police about the handgun in his car, which was parked in the school lot, prosecutors said.

“He was very specific about sawing off his shotgun to mow down and cut down the teachers in the lounge,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Tia Fisher. “He made very concrete threats. He named names. He had the firepower to carry it out.”

Jett, who did not enter a plea in court Tuesday, was first arrested on the handgun charge Thursday and released on $20,000 bond. He was rearrested Friday at a school district office for the threats, police said.

Jett’s bail was initially set at $150,000, then raised to $1 million Friday after police found other weapons in the Torrance home he shares with his parents.

On Tuesday, South Gate Municipal Court Commissioner Ana Maria Luna reduced Jett’s bail to $750,000 and set a preliminary hearing for March 14. Luna said the teacher still posed a danger to the school staff.

Robert McDaniel, Jett’s attorney, said Tuesday that the charges are overblown and that the 36-year-old teacher is innocent. Jett was charged with two felonies--bringing a handgun on school grounds and making terrorist threats--and could face a maximum of seven years in state prison.

“It seems to me if we look at the individual involved, we’ll see someone who is really incapable of hurting anybody,” McDaniel said. “He is a fine, upstanding citizen who would never hurt a fly.”

Fisher said in court that Jett indicated he would “hunt down and kill” whomever reported the gun to police, and that if it was the teacher’s assistant in his class he would kill her. Further, Fisher said, Jett threatened to bring his shotgun and “end the careers” of all the teachers at the school.

Fisher said the school principal indicated that Jett had previously been reproached for teaching kindergarten in camouflage clothing.

Jett’s parents said their son is a war enthusiast who enjoys collecting guns. They said they were shocked by the allegations. “He’s a gun collector, he’s a Civil War re-enactor and he’s a member of the NRA in good standing,” Mary Jett said.

At Montara Elementary School, Principal Juliana Dawson refused to discuss the case.