Porterville 14-year-old arrested for sending death threat texts against himself, 5 other boys

A Porterville 14-year-old was arrested for allegedly threatening the lives of five other high school students.

Porterville Police said the suspect, a high school boy, confessed to sending out text messages to the five others on a thread in which he made death threats directly to each of the victims, identifying them by name.

The text chain also included the suspect himself. Police said he likely did that to exclude himself as a suspect.

The teenager was booked into the custody of the Tulare County Juvenile Detention Facility on Tuesday on the felony charge of criminal threats.

Detectives traced the text messages to the boy by contacting cellphone carriers and administrators of the texting app.

All six boys - the five victims and the suspect - knew each other and attend Porterville area high schools.