Police in Berkeley, Calif., arrested a 16-year-old boy on May 30 who was allegedly plotting a mass shooting and bombing at Berkeley High School, officials said.
The Berkeley Police Department said in a news release issued Wednesday that it obtained a warrant to search the teen’s residence after receiving a tip on May 21 that he was recruiting others to participate in a mass shooting that included explosives.
Police searched the house on May 22 and found “parts to explosives and assault rifles, several knives, and electronic items that could be used to create additional weapons,” the department said. Mental health experts with the city’s Mobile Crisis Team evaluated the teen.
Investigators from the police department’s Youth Services Unit took over the investigation, and detectives interviewed witnesses, reviewed the evidence and obtained a warrant for the teen’s arrest, the department said.
The department said that throughout the investigation it communicated with Berkeley High School staff and Berkeley Unified School District officials, keeping “them apprised of any safety-critical information.”
The teen turned himself into police on May 30 and he was arrested on “suspicion of possessing destructive device materials and threatening to commit a crime which will result in death or great bodily injury,” the department said.
The incident remains under investigation.
If you have any information about the incident, you can contact the police department’s Youth Services Unit at (510) 981-5715.
