SAN DIEGO -- A social media threat -- an Instagram post with a picture of a gun and a reference to Mt. Carmel High School -- is under investigation.
According to the San Diego Police Department, they received a call at 10:38 p.m. Tuesday that a student from the school had posted a threat. At 12:16 a.m. Wednesday, officers located the student, detained him and transported him to a hospital for a mental evaluation.
Police say they do not believe there is a credible threat to the school and that the incident was isolated to the one student.
The school's principal, Greg Magno, sent the following notice to parents this morning:
Dear Sundevil Families:
There was an incident late last night where social media was used to circulate a threat about the school. Because of our community’s willingness to report early and often, Mt. Carmel Administration and SDPD were able to work through the early morning to investigate this.SDPD have notified us that the person responsible for the social media posting has been located. SDPD and school administration will be working together today to address the person responsible for this posting.At this time San Diego Police have stated that there is no threat to the school related to this posting.I would like to thank our community for their willingness to report, and because of this we were able to work in short time to address the situation.Thank you,Greg MagnoPrincipal, Mt. Carmel HS
The Poway Unified School District also responded to concerns on Twitter:
@sean3casey we've been working with SDPD, who located the person who posted and investigators determined there was no threat to the school.
— Poway Unified (@powayusd) September 28, 2016
@caitlinhurley_ we've been working with SDPD, who located the person who posted. investigators determined there was no threat to the school.
— Poway Unified (@powayusd) September 28, 2016
@michaelpbower also worried about security issues for the school if fans show up. Thanks for understanding
— Poway Unified (@powayusd) September 28, 2016
@michaelpbower hi, can you please delete tweet? Mr. Gonzalez requested it be a private event open only to invited guests and media.
— Poway Unified (@powayusd) September 28, 2016