A Downey high school student who posted an image of an airsoft gun on social media and said he was headed to school has been arrested, police said.

The 16-year-old boy posted the message to Twitter over the weekend and the post was forwarded to a Downey Unified School District administrator, who alerted police, said district spokeswoman Ashley Greaney.

“The threat implied violence at the school towards students and staff,” Downey police said in statement on Facebook. “Through our investigation with the assistance of Warren High School Administration, the suspect…was identified and arrested.”

The threat was ultimately deemed “not credible” by police, Greaney said.


The boy’s tweet showed an airsoft gun, which looked similar to a real firearm, and said he was going to go to school, she said.

“It was just a bad prank on his end,” she said.

It’s unclear what discipline the student could face from the district, she said. Warren High School had extra staffing in place on Monday “out of an abundance of caution,” Greaney added.

joseph.serna@latimes.com


For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.

ALSO

Armed man dies after breaking into estranged wife’s house, police say

For Iranian Americans, Trump has complicated an already tricky trip to motherland


LAPD to detail arrests in horrific 1993 fire that killed 10 people