Multiple students arrested across California’s Central Valley amid wave of alleged school threats

MODESTO — Multiple arrests of students were made Monday in California’s Central Valley as authorities investigated alleged online threats made against schools.

The Modesto Police Department said it had investigated multiple threats of violence made toward schools over the weekend.

On Monday, the department announced two separate arrests. The first was a Modesto High School student who authorities say posted a threat on social media along with a photo of gun. The second arrest was of a Hanshaw Middle School student who authorities say was overheard by other students threatening to commit a school shooting during the school day.

Up north in Lodi, a 15-year-old was booked into juvenile hall for allegedly making similar threats toward a local school, police said.

In Stockton, a 16-year-old Lincoln High student was also arrested on accusations they made online threats of violence toward the school.

Further south in Manteca, the city’s police department said officers arrested a 13-year-old girl who posted a threat on Instagram that “targeted specific students at Sequoia Elementary School and mentioned a shooting at Manteca High School.”

In each of these instances, no actual acts of violence had been committed.

The arrests come amid a wave of alleged online threats made against schools that law enforcement officials have been investigating nationwide. It’s part of a social media trend prompting students to send threats to schools.