A 14-year-old boy was taken into custody on suspicion of leaving threatening notes at a Garden Grove high school that prompted the evacuation of the campus this week, police said Thursday.
The unidentified ninth-grader was arrested after Bolsa Grande High School staff reviewed two threatening notes and said they matched the boy’s handwriting, the Garden Grove Police Department stated in a news release.
An investigation was ongoing to determine if the boy was connected to a “suspicious” fire that burned on campus over the weekend. One firefighter was injured and multiple classrooms damaged in the blaze.
The school was evacuated Tuesday afternoon after a student found a note stating there was a bomb on campus. The school’s nearly 2,100 students exited the campus, police said.
Officers did not find any suspicious devices on campus and the school was declared clear about two hours after the note was found.
Then, on Wednesday afternoon, the school district found another note that referenced Sunday’s fire and the bomb threat and advised there would be a shooting on campus, police said.
Once school staff said the believed the notes were written by the boy, he was questioned by investigators.
“Investigators developed sufficient information to arrest the suspect for leaving both threatening notes at the
school,” the police news release stated Thursday. “A search warrant was obtained for his home and numerous items of evidence were seized.”
Garden Grove Unified School District Superintendent Gabriel Mafi said she was proud of the “teamwork and patience” displayed during “highly stressful time.”