Possible threat on Santa Clarita school wall prompts additional patrols

A student at La Mesa Junior High School in Santa Clarita was detained Monday evening on suspicion of making a verbal threat against the school, but it was unclear whether the boy was the same person who scrawled a threatening message found on the wall of a campus bathroom last week.

The boy is suspected of making verbal threats to “shoot up the school,” said Shirley Miller, public information officer with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Santa Clarita Valley Station.

The written message, which was found Thursday, referenced a shooting and used the number 21, Miller said.

The school will remain open, but extra deputies will patrol the campus Tuesday out of an abundance of caution and to reassure parents and others concerned over the message, Miller said.

Principal Michele Krantz issued her own message informing parents of the statement and the additional patrols.

The author of the written message has not been identified, but the matter remains under investigation and whoever is responsible faces possible arrest on suspicion of making criminal threats, Miller said.