An online message that mentioned purported plans to fashion a home-made gun and displayed resentment toward Mission Hills High School prompted heightened security at the San Marcos campus on Wednesday while investigators tracked down and detained the alleged perpetrator.
A student who attends the San Marcos school came across the unsettling statements on Burnbook.com about 10 p.m. Tuesday and alerted a parent, who in turn notified law enforcement, sheriff's Lt. Jerry Hartman said.
"The posting made several unspecific threats toward the school and indicated the person posting was building a firearm," he said.
Deputies provided an intensified presence at the campus through the day as a precaution. The No problems were reported.
By late afternoon, a juvenile suspect in the case had been identified. The youth, a 14-year-old Mission Hills High student whose name also was withheld, was not immediately arrested, and authorities had yet to determine whether criminal charges would be warranted.
The student was not believed to have had access to firearms or gun components, the lieutenant said.
The case apparently was unrelated to a similar scare in the East County, where a Burnbook posting that appeared early this morning prompted extra security at El Cajon Valley High School and led to the eventual arrest of a teenage suspect, Hartman said.
