For the second time in as many days, a San Diego-area teenager was arrested Thursday after allegedly making threatening statements about a local school via a popular online social-media application.
The 14-year-old El Camino High student allegedly posted the menacing statements regarding his Oceanside school on Burnbook.com late Wednesday morning, according to police.
This morning, a parent reported the posting, and an officer got in touch with the operator of the website.
“The owner was cooperative and provided the (Internet Protocol) address for the source,” Oceanside police Lt. Leonard Cosby said.
The officer proceeded to contact AT&T, which disclosed the name and home address of the owner of the phone used to post the comments. Police then went to the youth’s home and contacted his mother.
“The son admitted to posting the threat,” Cosby said. “He was arrested and transported to juvenile hall. (His) phone was booked into evidence.”
Investigators determined that the suspect, whose name was withheld because he is a minor, had been suspended from school earlier in the day for allegedly bringing a knife to campus.
In response to the latest threat, Burnbook tweeted this message:
Burnbook doesn’t have that many rules… but there are a few, among them: no threats, harassment, or murder. it’s not that hard people.
On Wednesday, an East County eighth-grader was arrested on suspicion of making an online threat of violence targeting El Cajon Valley High School via Burnbook, according to police.
Using “a variety of investigative techniques,” detectives tracked down the alleged perpetrator, a student at a nearby middle school, El Cajon Police Department Lt. Randy Soulard said.
Authorities have investigated at least four instances this month in which Burnbook users have used the website to make statements implying or explicitly asserting an intention to do violence at a school in San Diego County.
The online application, which allows for anonymous postings, has “evolved into a method to spread rumors, engage in cyber-bullying and make threats to others,” according to Soulard.
— City News Service contributed to this report.
