Police accuse man of making threat toward Phoenix high school
Feb 26, 2018, 12:48 PM
(Maricopa County Sheriff's Office)
PHOENIX — A man was arrested early Monday after he allegedly posted on social media that he was planning to shoot people at a Phoenix school.
Court documents showed 20-year-old Christopher Michael Rodriguez Mendez was arrested after more than 1,000 people called police about the Facebook post.
Police said Mendez made the threatening post after he was allegedly assaulted by several students who attend South Pointe High School, a charter school located near Baseline Road and Central Avenue.
Mendez admitted to police that he had made the post but deleted it because he was worried he would be in trouble.
Mendez was charged with use of an electronic communication to terrify, intimidate, threaten or harass, one count of interference with an educational institution and two counts of threatening.
The threat came amid a rash of heightened awareness about potential violence toward schools after the Valentine’s Day shooting at a Florida high school.
Several people have been arrested in Phoenix since the Florida shooting that left 17 dead for carrying a loaded gun onto campus. Most of those guns were found in locked cars on school grounds.
At least one Phoenix school was closed after a number of students did not attend school because one student threatened another.
The nature of the threat was unclear, but school officials said the threat was not credible and at no point were students in danger.