Boy, 15, detained after deputies investigate threat to Ramona High School

A Ramona High student warned his friend not to attend school Thursday and Friday and hinted he was going to bring a gun to campus, prompting an investigation Thursday that eventually determined students and staff were not in danger, authorities said.

The friend who had been warned against being on campus alerted school officials to the threat Thursday morning, and campus staff contacted the Sheriff’s Department, Lt. Daniel Vengler said in a statement. Deputies eventually learned the 15-year-old student who made the threat was not on campus and did not have access to a gun.

Deputies responded around 9:30 a.m. to the high school on Hanson Lane after an assistant principal reported the threat, Vengler said. Deputies eventually found the boy at a doughnut shop.

“Once contacted, he was cooperative and told deputies it was a careless thing to say,” Vengler said. “Deputies searched his home and did not find any guns or other means to carry out the threat he made.”

As of Thursday evening, the boy was “being cared for at a hospital as a safety precaution,” Vengler said. He added that anyone experiencing a crisis can call the county’s 24-hour help line at (888) 724-7240.

Vengler said students who hear of threats or potential violence at their schools can contact school resource deputies or call the anonymous Students Speaking Out hotline at (888) 580-8477.

Classes at Ramona High were expected to resume as normal Friday.