Police are expected to maintain a stepped-up presence for the rest of the week at four Orange County schools named in an an online shooting threat, despite the arrest of a student who said the post was only a joke.

A 14-year-old freshman at Western High School was arrested Tuesday night for allegedly making the threat through an Instagram post, according to Kristina Hamm of the Anaheim Police Department. The teen threatened to commit acts of violence through multiple school shootings at his school, Magnolia High School in Anaheim, Cypress High School and Buena Park High School, Hamm said.

Anaheim police spokesman Sgt. Daron Wyatt said Wednesday the arrested student “was super remorseful and he had no means to carry [the threat] out.”

“It was not a legitimate threat,” Wyatt said. “He didn’t realize the ramifications of it, but the message we like to get out is that it’s not a joke and we will prosecute pranks like this to the fullest extent of the law.”


The online threat said the shootings would be carried out Friday. Despite the student’s arrest, some parents said Wednesday they were still concerned about the safety of their children — particularly on Friday.