Teen held in O.C. school bomb threat
A 14-year-old Westminster High School student was in custody after he allegedly threatened to blow up his classroom Wednesday, leading to a half-hour standoff with police and a schoolwide evacuation.
Authorities said another student in the special education classroom called 911 on his cell phone about 9 a.m. and reported that a classmate had announced he had a bomb in his backpack and planned to detonate it, said Westminster Police Lt. Bill Lewis. Police said the class consisted of 10 or fewer students.
The school’s 2,600 students were evacuated to nearby Buckingham Park and parents were notified through an automated phone system. Meantime, police officers, sheriff’s deputies, a bomb squad and hostage negotiators converged on campus.
After a half hour, the student began releasing his classmates, then his teacher, and surrendered, Lewis said. Police and school officials wouldn’t release further information about the student, his teacher or the hostages’ experience.
The teen, whose identity is being withheld because of his age, was arrested on suspicion of making terrorist threats and could face additional charges. His backpack contained no explosives.
But to ensure that the campus was secure, gun-toting police conducted a classroom-by-classroom search.
“We take each and every threat seriously,” said Principal Shirley Vaughn.
Students seemed to take the commotion in stride, blithely noting that another bomb threat forced a schoolwide evacuation the previous school year.
“It’s the annual bomb threat,” said sophomore Eddie Carlos.
roy.rivenburg@latimes.com
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