San Diego D.A. to review alleged email threat by 12-year-old boy

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The San Diego County district attorney’s office is set to decide whether criminal charges should be brought against a 12-year-old boy who allegedly sent a death threat against a teacher and 23 students at his school.

The boy was taken into custody Saturday night and admitted to a hospital for evaluation and treatment, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. Detectives had tracked a threatening email, sent to an administrator at Twin Peaks Middle School in Poway, to the boy’s home.

At the home, investigators found five rifles, three handguns and three shotguns, all locked away, said Capt. Bill Donahue. The boy had no access to the weaponry, Donahue said. The weapons were seized as evidence, along with several computers.

The boy’s parents were shocked when investigators arrived to serve a search warrant on the home, but they were cooperative, Donahue said.

There is no indication anyone else was involved in sending the threatening email, which said the mass shooting would take place Monday and mentioned several weapons and 3,000 rounds of ammunition, Donahue said. The email is an ‘isolated incident,’ he said.

John Collins, superintendent of the Poway Unified School District, told reporters at a news conference the teacher does not have any explanation for why the boy apparently targeted her and her students.

Additional security will be at the school when class opens Monday morning, Collins said. Also, counselors will be at the school to help students and staff cope with the situation, he said.

Making a terrorist threat is a felony in California, Donahue noted. The specter of a shooting on campus is every school official’s ‘worst nightmare,’ Collins said.

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-- Tony Perry in San Diego