Security officer may have stopped next school shooting

STUDENT SAFETY /

LOS ANGELES — Just 48 hours after a gunman slaughtered 17 students and teachers in Parkland, Florida, El Camino High School security officer Marino Chavez overheard a troubling threat.

A 17-year-old student with an “extensive” disciplinary history said he planned to “shoot up” the Whittier campus within three weeks, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell.

Within hours, investigators searched the teen’s home and recovered two semiautomatic rifles, two handguns and 90 high-capacity magazines.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, McDonnell said he was grateful his officers had a chance to head off a potential tragedy.

“As we see these incidents occur one after another, we’re all looking to say ‘How do we stop this?’” McDonnell said.

The teen, who was not identified because he is a juvenile, is being held on suspicion of making criminal threats, the sheriff said. His older brother, an Army veteran, claimed the weapons belonged to him and has been booked on suspicion of numerous crimes, including possession of an assault weapon, according to McDonnell.

Chavez said he became aware of the threat Friday afternoon as the student was walking back from lunch. The officer immediately confronted the teenager, who claimed he was only joking. The sheriff’s office was called and learned that a handgun was registered to the student’s home address, McDonnell said.

The student was angry about rules inside the classroom, Robert Jacobsen, an attorney for the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District, told reporters Wednesday.

“The teacher has expectations for the students to engage in learning during class time and told students to keep their cellphones and their earphones off so they can learn,” Jacobsen said. “And this student wasn’t happy about that. … At least what we understand at this time, it was simply over that.”

McDonnell said it was not clear how serious the student was about committing violence, but after the attack in Florida, investigators’ “main interest was to avoid letting anything like that happen.” Chavez said the incident in Whittier showed the importance of heeding early warning signs.

“The sheriff’s department can only respond if they are told,” he said.

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER] [SARAH REINGEWIRTZ/ Lisa Jansen, a Los Angeles County deputy sheriff, sets up a picture of the weapons and ammunition found at a 17-year-old student’s home after he was heard threatening to shoot up El Camino High School in Whittier, Calif.