Police seize evidence from suspects’ homes
Hill – Two Sobrato students were arrested late Thursday evening on a conspiracy charge after police linked the two boys to a bomb threat that evacuated the high school that same afternoon and unleashed rumors that a “Columbine-style” attack was planned.
The Times is not naming the two suspects it learned from students at Sobrato because they are minors.
MHPD Cmdr. Joe Sampson said the two male students were taken into custody for interviews with detectives and had their parents contacted. They were later booked into Juvenile Hall Thursday on criminal conspiracy after police searched their homes and removed “various items of evidence,” Sampson said Friday.
When interviewed by The Times Thursday, Sampson said there was no evidence of an imminent threat to students, but he said Friday he would leave that determination to the District Attorney.
Though he could not disclose further information on the items taken from the homes, Sampson did confirm the items were “not firearms, bombs,” he said.
“We like for the DA to have the opportunity to review what we have, looking at all this and looking at this case, to see how it potentially ties into the case,” said Sampson. “I don’t even know that yet, there are boxes of things they took. We’re trying to wrap this one up and get the reports ready for DA.”
It will be up to the District Attorney to review the information collected by detectives and determine what, if any, charges will be filed.
“Conspiracy usually has another charge attached, such as conspiracy to commit a terrorist threat, whatever the evidence points to, conspiracy to commit murder, which would be a very serious charge,” Sampson said.
The incident began early Thursday morning, when the School Resource Officer was told at approximately 9:19am by Sobrato administration of a possible bomb threat. A 14-year-old male and a 15-year-old male had allegedly researched ways to place many explosive devices on the campus. The discussions between the two students had been going on for approximately one month, and were overheard by another student. The student reported what was overheard.
Police were called to the campus and decided to interview the two suspect students. While they were enroute to the classroom of the first student, the fire alarm was activated when a construction worker accidentally broke a sprinkler head.
“Officers on the scene initially believed that the alleged attack was possibly in progress,” Sampson said.
The school was not placed in lockdown Thursday, based on the responding officers’ assessment of the situation, but students were evacuated when the fire alarm was set off.
After the two male students were taken to the police station, some students said they were told the two students belonged to a gang, but not the “typical” Sureño or Norteño, and that the students were planning an attack on the high school similar to what happened at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999.
“The boys are not known to us as gang members,” Sampson said. “We have no knowledge of this other gang. We have no information at this time to suggest that anything else was planned.”
The “rumor mill,” Sampson said, is often very active on school campuses, but said the police department would still take the matter seriously and conduct a thorough investigation.
Detectives are looking into the possibility that there is another gang that the students belong to.
“Whether this is a group or criminal street gang, there’s a big difference there,” Sampson said. “We’re trying to figure out if they had identified themselves with some kind of moniker. But it is clear they have some kind of group they hang around with.”
The Sobrato campus was buzzing with talk about the incident Friday, and television crews parked across the street from the campus waiting for school to let out so they could interview students.
“There are a lot of rumors flying around, and because we don’t get to respond, it’s hard to address them,” Knapp said. “An awful lot of them are not accurate. It’s important to let the investigation run its course. Officers have just been working on this since yesterday.”
