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Sheriff’s officials reveal 2 recent threats to area schools

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This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

This post has been corrected. See the note at the bottom for details.

A day after Los Angeles police arrested a man accused of threatening shootings at area schools, sheriff’s officials revealed two other recent security incidents at schools in Diamond Bar and San Dimas.

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Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said the first occurred Thursday, when a 14-year-old student at Canyon View Junior High School in San Dimas threatened to bring a gun to campus and kill a teacher. The investigation into that incident is ongoing and no arrests have been made, Whitmore said.

In a second incident on Monday, officials at Diamond Bar High School ordered a lockdown after a man carrying a duffel bag was acting suspiciously, Whitmore said. Deputies determined that the man, who initially appeared to be a transient, was a resident of the city and not a threat. The school was quickly reopened.

Authorities have been on alert and nerves have been on edge since a mass shooting Friday in Newtown, Conn., at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

On Sunday, Los Angeles police and FBI agents arrested a Pomona man for allegedly threatening shootings at multiple area elementary schools.

The threats were made on Facebook, and though they did not mention any schools specifically, referenced the Newtown shooting, the LAPD said. The suspect, Kyle Bangayan, 24, of Pomona, was booked on suspicion of making criminal threats and held on $500,000 bail.

Authorities found nine weapons — rifles, a shotgun and multiple handguns — along with ammunition at the East Hollywood home of the suspects’ parents, which is where Bangayan was arrested, the LAPD said. It was not immediately known to whom the guns belonged.

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Friday’s massacre in Newtown — where a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, killing 20 children and six adults — has sparked an increased focus on school safety nationwide. In Los Angeles, both the LAPD and Sheriff’s Department have pledged to increase daily patrols at area schools.

Both LAPD and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department have announced increased daily patrols around local schools to protect against potential treats.

[For the record, 4:55 p.m. Dec. 17: A previous headline stated that two threats involved Diamond Bar schools.]

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— Andrew Blankstein and Kate Mather

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