Teen Arrested For Allegedly Recruiting Students For School Mass Shooting, Bomb Plot

A 16-year-old California teenager was arrested for allegedly attempting to recruit high school students for a mass shooting or possible bombing at Berkeley High School.

Berkeley Police received a tip on May 21 that the unnamed boy was recruiting other students to participate in a shooting at the public school, according to a press release .

Once the tip was received, police ordered the teen to be evaluated by their Mobile Crisis Team. After searching the teenager’s residence, police found “parts to explosives and assault rifles, several knives, and electronic items that could be used to create additional weapons,” the police statement said.

The teen turned himself in on Memorial Day and police arrested him on suspicion of “possessing destructive device materials and threatening to commit a crime, which will result in death or great bodily injury,” according to the release .

Dr. Brent Stephens, superintendent of Berkeley Unified School District, said in a statement  to parents and students that the teenager “did not pose an immediate threat to the Berkeley High School community.”

“We are committed to conducting our own separate investigation, within the parameters of our authority as a school district, and as the evidence warrants, pursuing all possible steps, including discipline, that will support student and community safety,” Stephens said.

The superintendent also said because of this and a previous shooting incident at a local park, counseling would be available for staff and students who may be “feeling anxious and upset.”

Shootings, many with multiple victims, have repeatedly made headlines across the U.S. over the past three weeks. On Wednesday, three simultaneous shootings  took place at a medical building in Oklahoma, a high school in California, and a nail salon in Pennsylvania. 

An 18-year-old shot and killed  19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, making it the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. The Texas Department of Public is investigating  former school police chief and newly elected City Council member Peter Arredondo for his delayed response toward the gunman during the shooting massacre.

On May 14, a white supremacist opened fire at Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo , New York, killing 10 black people and injuring three other individuals. The shooter traveled to a predominantly black neighborhood to carry out the attack after being influenced by the ”replacement theory ”  a white supremacist conspiracy theory that falsely claims nonwhite immigrants in the U.S are replacing white people.