Could Texas school massacre happen here? California schools face numerous student threats every week

Could it happen here?

The same week a teenager walked into a Texas elementary school and killed 19 students and two teachers, school officials, parents and police in at least five California cities from Sacramento to Oakland to San Diego were taking action to stop students from doing something just as tragic. 

And those were just the threats that school administrators chose to publicize in letters home to parents, who are fearful, yet again, that their children could be next.

There are plenty of close calls with troubled kids most school communities never hear about.

The previous week in San Jose, school officials reported five separate threats of school violence to police, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office. And that was before the Texas rampage, telegraphed in dark social media messages and gun photos by the shooter in the days and weeks before, but never reported by those who saw them.

“The problem is so bottomless, and we’re seeing threats of violence at schools almost every day,” said Marisa McKeown, Santa Clara County’s supervising deputy district attorney in the crime strategies unit who keeps tabs on threats at San Jose schools in particular. “That could be a childish expression of anger and response to bullying, or it could be a genuine threat. It’s so challenging to know which one is going to be the one.”

Across the country, as most pandemic school closures were lifted, school shooting threats spiked, according to the Center for Homeland Defense and Security’s K-12 School Shooting Database. An Op-ed in the Los Angeles Times co-authored by a creator of the database, reported that in September 2021 alone, 151 school shooting threats were made — a record — up from a three-year average of 29 for the month.  

Unlike in Texas, California’s tough gun laws would have prevented a school shooter from walking into a gun store on his 18th birthday and walking out with an AR-15-style assault rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. But the threats from students are surfacing again and again at California schools, and authorities are warning parents and students to be vigilant.

School officials across the state are renewing calls for students and parents to “say something” when they see something unsettling. And authorities are educating communities about Gun Violence Restraining Orders, also known as the red flag law, that allows families, employers, educators and police to obtain restraining orders to confiscate weapons before a crime has been committed.

The red flag law, in place since 2016 and expanded in 2020, has been used mostly in domestic violence and mental health cases and more recently by employees fearing disgruntled co-workers. And while school administrators can seek these kinds of restraining orders when students make threats and have ready access to guns in the home, most call police directly instead. More than ever, parents and students are doing the same.

It’s making a difference, said Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen.

“When horrible things happen, people think horrible things are happening all the time,” Rosen said. “No, actually what’s happening all the time is that law enforcement is preventing this the vast majority of the time. But we’re not perfect – and we’ve got a lot of guns here.”

Just this week:

• On Tuesday, the same day of the Texas massacre, police officers in the Monterey County city of Marina arrested a high school student after parents and classmates reported he had made numerous threats against his fellow classmates the night before.

“If I could get any message out there,” Marina Police Commander Eddie Anderson said, “it’s don’t assume it’s not a big deal or someone is just saying things out of anger. Take it as a threat and notify us immediately.”

• The same day, in the Sacramento suburb of Roseville, police arrested a high schooler who had threatened classmates. That student, police say, had allegedly brought a gun to school in the past.

• Also in Sacramento on Tuesday, Kemble Elementary School administrators said a second-grader brought a gun and loaded ammunition magazine to school and put them in his desk. Students told a teacher, and district officials called police to confiscate the gun.

“We are grateful that this incident did not result in a tragedy such as those that districts have experienced,” district officials wrote in a letter to parents. “This is due in large part to the bravery and awareness of the students who came forward and alerted staff at Kemble today.”

• On Wednesday – the day after the Texas shooting – officials at Oakland School For The Arts told parents they contacted police after a high school student posted a video of himself shooting a gun. The student was banned from campus and extra security was posted at graduation ceremonies.

• On Thursday in north San Diego County, officials locked down five schools after someone anonymously made a threatening call to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department saying they were going to shoot up Del Norte High School district and a nearby elementary school.

In response to the Texas shooting, local school leaders are amping up ways to teach students how to report red flags of possible gun threats.

On Friday, San Francisco Unified Superintendent Vincent Matthews announced the launch of “Say Something” — an anonymous reporting system to teach 6th to 12th graders how to report serious concerns or school threats. Beginning in the fall, middle and high schoolers there will receive training to report incidents to the National Crisis Center through a mobile app, website and telephone hotline, the district’s announcement reads.

“Giving students a system to anonymously report a concern is another way we can provide an opportunity to ask for help,” Matthews said.

In Marin County, Deputy Superintendent Ken Lippi says threats are rare but happen. Last fall, school officials were alerted to a student threatening to harm himself and perhaps others. Literature about making bombs was found at his home.

“Because somebody noticed and was concerned, we were able to get our trained school resource officer to deal with it and de-escalate the situation,” Lippi said, adding that more attention needs to be paid to the root causes of a student’s distress.

Sometimes, he said, “it’s the social-emotional supports that are the most important in a case like that. Our schools need more resources to help identify and deal with students and others that are having mental health challenges or difficulties that would lead them to think that a way out is to hurt themselves or others.”