Madera teen held in threat at high school. Student, 16, suspended; rifles seized at his house

MADERA, CALIFORNIA -- Police said Wednesday that a 16-year-old sophomore known to some as "Virginia Tech 2" faces charges of threatening to shoot students at Madera High School's north campus.

The boy was arrested Tuesday after police searched his Madera home and seized 15 high-powered rifles -- including some with scopes -- along with hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

The news came the same day that an 18-year-old student killed eight people at his high school in Finland before fatally shooting himself, and Los Angeles police responded to a shooting at Venice High School. No one was hurt at Venice High, and no suspects have been apprehended.

Madera police Sgt. Robert Salas said the student, whom authorities would not name because of his age, is being held in the Madera County Juvenile Hall without bail.

District Attorney Ernest LiCalsi said he plans to arraign the boy today in Madera Juvenile Court. He said a judge will determine whether the boy is tried as a juvenile or an adult.

Police gave few details about the boy, apart from noting in a statement that he "has a propensity towards violence and has a fascination with death and serial killers."

Jake Bragonier, a spokesman for the Madera Unified School District, said the student never gave school officials reason for concern -- he has never been suspended or expelled or in any serious trouble. He has attended Madera Unified schools since kindergarten.

Bragonier said though no one was injured and there is no allegation that he brought a gun on campus, school officials want to expel the student.

"We take this extremely seriously," he said. "There's no such thing as an innocuous threat."

Salas said some Madera High students nicknamed the boy "Virginia Tech 2."

Virginia Tech became the site of one of the worst mass killings in American history in April when a mentally ill student shot and killed 32 students and faculty before taking his own life.

It was students who led to the boy's arrest in Madera, authorities said.

At least two told their parents about a Nov. 1 conversation at Madera High's north campus on L Street in which the teen allegedly made gun-related threats.

Parents alerted school officials, who called police.

Bragonier said the student made a "general" threat, and did not single out a particular person he was going to shoot.

He was pulled out of class Friday and questioned by campus security officers, then suspended, Bragonier said.

Salas said the teen's parents were aware of the arsenal of weapons and that the juvenile had access to them.

At the boy's home Wednesday, a man identified himself as a "friend of the family." He said neither he nor the boy's mother would comment.

Some students at Madera High's north campus had not heard anything about the threats or a student being suspended.

But they were alarmed that one of their classmates might have been planning an attack on the school.

"That's scary, dude," senior Steven Ramirez said.

A group of female students debated among themselves whether the boy should have been suspended, since he hadn't brought any guns to school, but agreed that making threats probably warranted getting kicked out.

"This is kind of scary, with Virginia Tech and all that," senior Alexis Villasana said.

Junior Adriana Resendis also found it chilling: "Imagine if that guy was in your class."

Orginal story here: http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/186086.html