Prank, Columbine Fears Create High School Panic

A high school prank mushroomed into a short-lived panic Thursday after Mayor Richard Riordan announced that a group of San Fernando Valley students had been arrested for planning a “Columbine-type shooting,” drawing reporters and worried parents to Monroe High School.

Within hours, the mayor had apologized for mischaracterizing the incident at the North Hills campus, which Los Angeles police later said was a practical joke. Four 10th-grade students were detained and questioned by police but released to their parents hours later.

“It was all a joke, a complete fabrication,” said Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Terry Hara.

The four boys were pulled out of class Thursday morning after authorities received a tip that they were planning an attack. The hoax came a week before the first anniversary of the rampage at Columbine High School outside Denver.

Riordan broke the news of the alleged plot after his annual State of the City address in Hollywood. The mayor had been briefed by an aide after his speech. Minutes later, Riordan described a plot, calling it “shocking” and said, “What if we hadn’t been fortunate enough to find out?”

Later in the day, apologizing, Riordan said he had spoken prematurely. “I understand that by my remarks I caused students, parents and faculty of Monroe High School needless distress,” he said.

According to LAPD Cmdr. David Kalish, three of the boys told another student they were going to mark the April 20 Columbine anniversary with a similar attack on their school. Kalish said the three boys wanted to see if the other student would believe them.

He did, and he told police officers about the alleged plot early this week, police said.

Police began investigating Tuesday. After questioning the boys at Devonshire Division headquarters Thursday morning, detectives determined that the plot was a hoax, Kalish said.

School officials said the boys might be disciplined, but no decision had been made on Thursday.

The mayor’s comments sent news helicopters and worried parents to the 3,700-student school. Gregory Vallone, Monroe’s principal, said he was “flabbergasted” by Riordan’s remarks.

“I would not liken this to Columbine by any stretch of the imagination,” Vallone said at an afternoon news conference.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials had taken the threat seriously, however, distributing a memo Thursday morning to school board members stating that “an informant had reported that there would be a ‘Columbine-like activity’ at Monroe High School” on April 20.

The memo, written by Dan Isaacs, the district’s assistant superintendent of school operations, said the “allegations indicated that a school police officer, a teacher and the students in her classroom would be targeted.”

Despite the mayor’s gaffe, school and police officials said all threats are taken seriously, especially in light of the upcoming anniversary of the Columbine shooting. Two students killed 12 pupils and a teacher at the Colorado school before killing themselves.

“The incidents around the country have heightened everyone’s sensitivity, even in cases where youngsters are joking,” said L.A. Unified’s Assistant Supt. John Liechty, in charge of instruction in the San Fernando Valley. “I would rather see us criticized for being overly cautious than being cavalier.”

Monroe students seemed surprised by the burst of attention from police, school officials and the news media.

“The mayor tripped out about this,” said Ross, a 17-year-old senior who did not give his last name. “Parents who heard him make those comments on television freaked out and got worried.”

Times staff writers Karima A. Haynes and Andrew Blankstein and Times Community News correspondent Greg Risling contributed to this story.