November 21, 2014

Update on Threat to Santa Cruz High School

This morning the Sentinel published an article indicating they had email and Twitter conversations with the suspect in the threats at Santa Cruz High School. A link to the article is here.

http://goo.gl/ImW9NS


Although the person communicating with the Sentinel does have some knowledge about the original email, we cannot confirm or validate that they are conversing with the actual suspect.   We are extremely cognizant of the potential for copycats or friends of the actual suspect trying to distract the investigation.  

If this person is actually the suspect, they can end the public concern by simply surrendering to the police department allowing us to resolve the case and relieve community concerns.  

Additionally, we cannot confirm whether or not the actual suspect is a student.  Therefore, we cannot confirm the claim that they attended school yesterday.  If they did attend school, we are confident that we had sufficient officers and a plan to monitor and respond to any threats on or around the campus.  

There have not been any additional threats made.  The police department has been continuously working on this case to determine the origin and identity of the threat.  We continue to monitor the threat potential to the students and staff.  

If, at any point, we believe there is a legitimate threat of violence, we will consult with school administration and take all necessary steps to secure the campus.   We will not gamble with the safety and security of our school campuses.  

Last night, our detectives detained and interviewed two persons of interest in conjunction with both this case, as well as a separate unrelated case.   We were prepared to serve a search warrant at their home.  The persons were cooperative and allowed the seizure of computer equipment for examination.  They also shared information about potential suspects and people with the technological savvy to be involved with this threat.   

Detectives are continuing to use software tools to identify a suspect, as well as looking into possible suspects based on tips and information.  This is an active and dynamic investigation with information changing hour by hour.  

When we have solid and reliable information to report, we will update the community.