Los Angeles authorities thwart two potential school shootings

Local police announced Friday that officials stopped two school shooting threats in Los Angeles County.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said during a news conference that in one of the incidents, investigators found an AR-15 rifle, 100 rounds of ammunition, a list of targets and a drawing of a school’s layout, NBC News reports.

A 13-year-old male student at Animo Mae Jemison Charter Middle School in Los Angeles was arrested after other students heard about a threat in person and notified staff. Police later searched his home and found the weapon and ammunition, the outlet reported.

Villanueva said authorities are investigating the origin of the AR-15.

“We moved quickly to ensure that no harm came to our students,” Green Dot Public Schools told NBC News. “Our students did everything right by raising concerns with adults.”

In the second incident, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said a shooting threat was reportedly made on Thursday at a high school in Palmdale.

A juvenile male reportedly “made threats on social media and posted pictures of a person holding a firearm,” the sheriff’s department said in a news release.

He also admitted to writing threatening quotes and posting threats online. He was arrested for criminal threats and brought to a juvenile facility, NBC News reports.

Villanueva said police are facing a series of threats to schools in the aftermath of the Nov. 14 shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, Calif., in which a 16-year-old student fatally shot two classmates and injured three others before shooting himself.