Gilbert police arrest juvenile for hoax threat against Mesquite High School
Apr 24, 2019, 7:05 PM
(Google Street View)
(Google Street View)
PHOENIX – A juvenile suspect was arrested Wednesday afternoon for making a hoax threat against an East Valley high school a day earlier, authorities said.
Sgt. Bill Balafas of the Gilbert Police Department said in an email that the suspect didn’t have the intent or ability to carry out the threat made against Mesquite High School on Tuesday.
Balafas said the suspect will be booked on charges related to making threats and interruption of a school.
Earlier Wednesday, the department said on Facebook it was investigating a threat against Mesquite that might have been related to reported threats against Gilbert High School last week.
🚨🚨Mesquite HS Threats – UPDATE: An arrest of a juvenile suspect has been made. It was determined that the threats were a hoax with no intent to carry them out. The juvenile will be booked on charges related to making threats and interruption of a school.
— Gilbert Police Dept. (@GilbertPolice) April 25, 2019
The Gilbert High threat was determined to be unfounded.
As a precaution, Gilbert police increased its presence at Mesquite on Wednesday.
RELATED STORIES
No other information was immediately available.
Wednesday’s activity came a day after Valley authorities dealt with threats at two other schools.
Phoenix police arrested a Pinnacle High School student who allegedly said he wanted “blow up a Muslim church” and showed up on campus Tuesday with a white powdery substance.
The substance was determined to be potassium nitrate, which isn’t dangerous alone but can “create a flash powder” when mixed with other chemicals, police said.
Also on Tuesday, a threat of violence at L. Thomas Heck Middle School in Litchfield Park was deemed to be a hoax.
