Potential school shooting prevented with arrest of Tranquillity High student, deputies say

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A 15-year-old Tranquillity High School student has been arrested after deputies say he illegally had a gun and was making criminal threats.

The Fresno County Sheriff's Office was informed of social media posts made by the student threatening to shoot up the school.

They say the student was recently in a fight on campus.

Community members told school administrators about the posts, and it was relayed to the sheriff's office.

"The deputy who works on campus there took the information and ran with it," said Fresno County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Tony Botti. "He and some other deputies went to the home of the student to contact him."

Wednesday afternoon, deputies searched the student's home and say they found a pistol and a magazine in his backpack.

The Fresno County Sheriff's Office says adults at the 15-year-old boy's home were cooperative and allowed the deputies to search for a weapon.

The 15-year-old was taken into custody.

"Whether or not he was going, to carry this out, we don't know. And to be honest, we didn't want to find out," said Botti. "We never are going to discount a report because the one that you do is the one that is going to come back to bite you."

Golden Plains Unified School District released the following statement:

"School safety is a top priority for the district. We appreciate the work of the Fresno County Sheriff's Office and are fully cooperating with their investigation. We applaud the community members who chose to speak up and report the concerning social media messages and encourage others to do the same moving forward. Many lives at Tranquillity High School were potentially saved this week."