3 Students Arrested After Alleged Threats at School

LANCASTER —  Three Quartz Hill High School students were arrested Tuesday on separate allegations of threatening to blow up the school, making death threats against classmates and possessing an inert hand grenade, authorities said.

Investigators believe two of the three students shared information about bomb making, said Lt. Dave Collin of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. But there was no evidence the students entered into a conspiracy to commit the crimes, he said.

Authorities said the alleged actions of the youths were being taken seriously in light of last week’s tragedy at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., where two students killed 12 classmates and a teacher before taking their own lives.

“What’s the chance of it really happening? Who knows?” said Sheriff’s Deputy Bruce Thomas. “But after Colorado we feel a heightened sense of urgency to investigate these things fully.”

Collin said deputies last week arrested two 17-year-old students at Highland High School in Palmdale after one said the Colorado shooting was funny and allegedly intimidated another student. A second talked in class about constructing bombs.

Tuesday’s arrests at Quartz Hill High were made by the sheriff’s School Liaison Unit, which was acting on tips from other students. The three students were taken into custody before 1 p.m. at the Lancaster campus.

Two of the boys were being held at the Challenger Juvenile Facility in Lancaster, and the third was released to the custody of his parents.

One boy, 14, was being held on suspicion of making a terrorist threat--to blow up the school, Collin said.

A 15-year-old was being held on suspicion of threatening to kill classmates, Collin said. That youth also allegedly threatened to kill a witness who had overheard him, Collin said.

The third student, 15, was cited for possession of an inert hand grenade and released to his parents. Collin said there was no evidence the boy had the materials needed to turn the grenade into an explosive device.

The 14-year-old had made inquiries into how he could obtain the compound found in fertilizer that was used in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, Collin said.

After searching the 14-year-old’s home, they recovered a copy of the “Anarchist’s Cookbook,” a how-to manual on making explosives. Also found was a map of the high school, showing where bombs could be placed and a possible escape route, Collin said.

“He said that if an incident similar to Colorado occurred at his school, he wanted the map to escape,” Collin said. “But we’re looking at it a little differently.”