Bomb Scares, Threats Sweep Southland Schools

A succession of bomb scares and threats by students to kill classmates plagued several Southern California campuses Thursday, chilling incidents that may have been inspired by last week’s high school massacre in Littleton, Colo.

“We want to spread the word that we are taking this very seriously,” said Dave Nesbitt, spokesman for the Ventura office of the FBI. “So the next student who might be thinking this is a cool way to get out of class, maybe he’ll remember the last guy who did this went to prison.”

* In Oxnard, police evacuated 200 people from their homes and arrested an 18-year-old Hueneme High School student Thursday after receiving a tip that he had threatened to blow up the school. Officers said up to 10 pipe bombs were found in his house.

* Sheriff’s deputies and FBI agents raided the home of a 15-year-old Newbury Park High School sophomore at 3 a.m. after receiving a tip that he had posted a hit list on the school’s Web page naming people he intended to harm, including the principal, a teacher and several students.

* In Bakersfield, a teenage boy with a loaded semiautomatic handgun and an apparent hit list of 30 names was arrested after his classmates reported him to the principal. Sierra Middle School officials pulled the 13-year-old out of class about 1:30 p.m. after students said they saw the gun under his shirt and witnessed him loading it outside.

* At a middle school in Petaluma, two boys were arrested on suspicion of possessing bomb-making materials after they were overheard talking about blowing up bombs. The school was evacuated when administrators found five devices that looked like pipe bombs in the backpacks of two students. The devices were detonated but contained no explosive material.

* Administrators at Capistrano Valley High School in Mission Viejo announced Thursday that sheriff’s deputies would be on campus today to calm fears after rumors that a Littleton-type shooting incident was planned. School personnel will be posted at every entrance, every locker will be searched, and metal detectors will be used, the principal announced.

In Ventura County, 24-hour security guards have been posted at Simi Valley, Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks high schools, at least through Saturday.

The speed and scope of the response to rumors and threats underscored the seriousness with which authorities are viewing the continuing incidents.

Said Oxnard Union High School Supt. William G. Studt: “My question is: What are the parents doing? How can you make bombs in the bedroom? It’s crazy. The whole thing is pretty bizarre.”

Oxnard police arrested Jose Carlos Herrera on suspicion of possessing explosives. He remained in Ventura County Jail on Thursday night in lieu of $600,000 bail.

A classmate told police that he had overheard Herrera talking about his plan to bomb the school, said Det. Robert Vizcarra.

“[The informant] said he heard him say that he owns guns, knows how to make bombs, that he has bombs that he has made and that he mentioned doing what occurred in Littleton--blowing up the school,” Vizcarra said.

Herrera told police he was only interested in making bombs because he hoped to someday join the Army as a demolition expert, authorities said. He has not been charged with making threats.

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Times staff writers Catherine Saillant, Tina Dirmann, Miles Corwin and David Haldane, correspondent Holly Wolcott, and Associated Press contributed to this story.