Buchanan graduation mass shooting suspect released on new mental health diversion

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The teenager arrested for threatening a mass shooting at Buchanan High School's graduation will likely avoid prosecution.

A judge released Kyle Dwelle on mental health diversion, a new program signed into law this summer.

His defense attorney, Mark Coleman, says Dwelle tried to get help for a disorder on the autism spectrum, but he never got it, and school officials never told his parents.

Dwelle will have to wear a GPS monitor, he has to get mental health treatment from a therapist with knowledge of autism, and he's not allowed to live in any home where there are firearms.

Students at Buchanan High School reported Dwelle had a gun and intended to wear a Nazi band as he shot up the Buchanan graduation on June 7. Prosecutors filed two counts of making criminal threats against Dwelle, but a judge dismissed one after an alleged target said he never felt personally threatened.

Analysts for both prosecutors and the defense determined Dwelle would not be a threat to the community while under mental health treatment. He's supposed to live with his grandparents and he's not allowed within 100 yards of Buchanan or the witnesses in his case.

If he sticks to the program for two years without any further trouble, the remaining felony case against him will disappear. Coleman tells Action News the mental health diversion "was appropriate in this case."