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12.18.2012

Man arrested for posting school shooting threats

Dammit. Man, come on. Over the weekend, authorities in Southern California arrested a man who allegedly posted a message on Facebook threatening shootings at multiple elementary schools: 9 guns seized when man arrested for alleged school shooting threats.

24-year-old Kyle Bangayan was arrested at his parents' home in East Hollywood, where Los Angeles police offers and FBI agents seized nine guns. Bangayan was booked on suspicion of making criminal threats.

No specific targets were mentioned in the Facebook post, but Bangayan's alleged threat referred to "kindergarten and elementary school kids":

Los Angeles police officers and FBI agents found the weapons — rifles, a shotgun and multiple handguns — along with ammunition, the LAPD said. It was not immediately known to whom the guns belonged.

A search of Bangayan's home in Pomona turned up no weapons or other "related evidence," authorities said.

The LAPD said the alleged threat did not specify a particular school but did refer to a deadly shooting in Newtown, Conn., on Friday in which a gunman killed 20 children and six adults. The alleged threat referred to "kindergarten and elementary school kids," sources said.
The District Attorney has apparently decided not to file charges in the case because he didn't make a specific enough threat, but the LAPD argues it had enough evidence to show the guy was a credible threat, and had the means to carry out that threat. More here: No Charges in Facebook School Threat Case.

I didn't see the guy's Facebook post, but if it was even the vaguest notion of some threat of violence, I'm sure it set off red flags immediately. With the mass shooting in Connecticut still devastatingly fresh on everyone's minds, you bet your ass the hammer was going to come down hard and fast.