An 18-year-old Florida resident is facing felony charges for threatening to shoot mass casualties at Escondido Charter High School.
Escondido Police received reports of an online threat on January 16, when an anonymous suspect threatened to shoot up the high school the next day.
Police said the man fraudulently used the name of a student in the threat he made, though police were able to clear that student’s name as a suspect. Following the threat, all three Escondido Charter campuses temporarily closed.
Fernando Morales, 18, a Miami resident, was arrested Wednesday May 20 and charged with fraudulent use of personal identification and unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
Police said their detective Damon Vander Vorst traced the threat to a suspect potentially living in Miami. A multiple-agency effort helped locate the man, which police then arrested.
