Santa Monica Student Arrested Following Lockdown

A 19-year-old man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of making threats against several schools, prompting evacuations and lockdowns. 

The man, whose name was not immediately released, was taken into custody about 10 a.m. Thursday in the Psychological Services Office at Santa Monica College. He walked into the office to seek help, according to Sgt. Richard Lewis of the Santa Monica Police Department.
 
"He was suicidal," Lewis said. 

The man, who claimed to be a Santa Monica College student, is accused of calling and threatening to shoot up the school and kill himself. He allegedly made  references to several other schools located in Los Angeles.

Santa Monica Police investigators determined that the man was a Santa Monica student and was scheduled to have a class on campus, Lewis said. The Santa Monica College campus was placed on lockdown.

The man was arrested without incident and escorted off campus just before 11 a.m.    

Will Rogers Elementary School and John Adams Middle School in Santa Monica were placed on lockdown as a precaution, but those lockdowns were lifted before 10 a.m., the school district told City News Service.

Shortly before 8 a.m., California Highway Patrol personnel "received a telephone threat from a caller who said that he had a gun and was en route to a school campus in Monterey Park,'' Deputy Guillermina Saldana of the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau said.   

Authorities determined the caller was closest to the East Los Angeles campus, which was evacuated.    

Anyone with additional information about this incident, was asked to call Santa Monica Police Detective DeRyck at (310) 458-8944 or the Los Angeles Police Departments Media Relations Unit at (213) 486-5910.  

-City News Service contributed to this report.