Man held for Facebook threat to California schools

LOS ANGELES—California police have arrested a man for allegedly making threats on Facebook to “multiple elementary schools,” including by referring to the Connecticut massacre, a spokesman said Monday.

Kyle Bangayan, 24, was arrested Sunday at his parents’ Los Angeles home, where a cache of nine weapons including rifles and handguns was found, as well as ammunition.

No arms were found at Bangayan’s own home in Pomona, some 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, said LA Police Department spokesman Richard French. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was also probing the case.

“The threats, which did not target specific schools but did reference the Connecticut school shooting from last Friday, were posted on the social networking site Facebook,” he added.

“Also found… at the residence where Bangayan was arrested were nine firearms, including rifles, a shotgun, handguns, and ammunition… A search of the suspect’s Pomona residence didn’t yield any weapons or related evidence.”

Another police spokeswoman, Venus Hall, said the threats were made to “multiple elementary schools,” but gave no further details of location or numbers of targets.

The alleged threats came as the United States reels from an elementary school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut on Friday that left 20 young children and six adults dead.

The shooter, who is also believed to have killed his mother at the house they shared before embarking on the school massacre, took his own life as police closed in.