Man threatened Laguna Hills High with deaths, a bomb, mayhem at graduation, officials say
A 29-year-old man was arrested Saturday in Northern California after allegedly making a series of shooting, death and bomb threats over the last six months against Laguna Hills High School, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said.
Eugene Thomas Jenkins of San Rafael was booked into Orange County Jail on suspicion of multiple felony offenses including making criminal threats, the false report of a bomb, the false report of an emergency, and threatening a public officer.
The threats against the school’s staff and students began in December after a championship football game, the department said in a news release.
Over the next several months, the school received three reports of a shooter approaching the campus and a false threat about a bomb.
On at least one occasion, the school received a death threat via telephone.
South American migrants were unexpectedly flown from New Mexico to Sacramento in a move likely to inflame the immigration debate.
Additionally, at least 10 death threats were sent in letters through the United States Postal Service, the Sheriff’s Department said. The department did not say where the letters were sent.
At least two of the threats targeted Laguna Hills High School’s graduation ceremony on Thursday, the Sheriff’s Department said.
Additional security was placed at the graduation ceremony, which was held without incident.
In the days leading up to the ceremony, the Sheriff’s Department coordinated with law enforcement agencies from across the state including the FBI, San Rafael police, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Bay Area transit police to monitor locations used by the suspect.
Jenkins was found and arrested in San Rafael.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department declined to say how Jenkins was identified as a suspect and whether he was accused of threatening any other locations.
He is scheduled to appear in Orange County court Tuesday.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
