Police arrested a 16-year-old boy for allegedly trying to recruit other students to join a mass shooting and bombing plot at Berkeley High School, officials said Wednesday.
According to the Berkeley Police Department, the teen went online about two weeks ago to advertise his idea. Officials said a person who saw the advertisement online contacted police about the plot.
“There was a young person in possession of potentially dangerous materials, hearing about a threat to our high school is concerning,” said Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Brent Stephens.
After receiving the tip, officers with a search warrant went to the student's home, where "they discovered parts to explosives, assault rifles, several knives and electric items that could be used to create additional weapons," Berkeley police said a statement.
The teenage suspect’s name is not being released at this time and neither is the name of the person who told police of the plot.
“What’s positive in this particular instance is that somebody, an individual in our community came forward very early to report what they knew to police. The police took immediate action,” Stephens said.
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But in their statement, police said nothing about why officers were tipped off on May 21, but the teen was not arrested until May 30, nine days later, and was allowed to turn himself in.
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The question came up at Wednesday night’s Berkeley school board meeting.
"During this time, we were actively apprised on a daily basis of both the whereabouts of this particular individual. And then, we were also leaning on the expertise of Berkeley police experts," Stephens said.
Derrick Dupaty’s 16-year-old son Elijah is currently a junior at Berkeley High School. They spoke to NBC Bay Area following the news.
“It is kind of crazy that we can’t really go to school without fear of getting shot up and us possibly not making it back home. It’s kind of crazy but it’s a world that we live in,” Elijah Dupaty said.
“I just think we all need to keep a closer eye and look into our kids’ social media and maybe even the districts need to just hire someone just to watch social media and see what’s going on,” said Derrick Dupaty.
The incident came amid a series of mass shootings in United States including a deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and an attack on a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
