Staff Reports LA County – Last month, there have been reports of two threats towards local schools and two school lockdowns in the local area. The first incident occurred on Thursday, Dec. 13, when a 14-year-old student at Canyon View Junior High School in San Dimas allegedly threatened to bring a gun to campus and kill a teacher, according to the LA Times. Sheriff’s spokesman Steven Whitmore said to the Times that the investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made. The second incident occurred two days after the tragedy of 20 children and 6 adults being killed in Newtown, Connecticut. On Sunday, Dec. 16, a Pomona man was arrested for allegedly making violent threats against local elementary schools. Kyle Bangayan, 24, was arrested at around 11:15 a.m. by Los Angeles police officers and FBI agents at his parents’ residence in the 1200 block of North New Hampshire Avenue in East Hollywood, according to local reports. Found at the parents’ residence were nine firearms, including rifles, a shotgun, handguns, and ammunition, officials state. However, it is not known to whom the guns belonged to. Reports state that officials searched Bangayan’s Pomona residence and didn’t find any weapons or related evidence. Bangayan’s threats were made on Facebook, where he referenced the Newton shooting. Local reports state that Bangayan was booked on suspicion of making criminal threats and held on $500,000 bail. However, prosecutors declined to file charges against Bangayan on Dec. 17 because he did not target specific schools and apparently claimed the post to be a joke. The first lockdown that occurred was on Dec. 17 at approximately 9:45 a.m., when Diamond Bar High School went on lockdown due to a suspicious man in the area. According to a post by Principal Catherine Real on the DBHS website, Diamond Bar High School was notified by the Walnut Sheriff’s Department that a suspicious individual was in the vicinity. Local reports state that the man was carrying a duffel bag and acting suspiciously. In the interest of the students’ and staff’s safety, DBHS immediately went into their lockdown procedure. At approximately 10:05 a.m., the Sheriff’s Department notified the school that the man was in question, detained and was in police custody. Local reports state that the man was a Diamond Bar resident and not a threat. The lockdown was over and the school went back to their normal bell schedule. Real ended the post to DBHS parents saying, “Please know that your child’s safety is our number one priority and once that safety was secured and verified, parents were notified as quickly as possible.” The last lockdown occurred on Dec. 21, when Diamond Ranch High School went on lockdown due to an alleged threatening call from a student. The Pomona Unified School District posted online at around 10:30 a.m. that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department had directed Diamond Ranch High School to be placed on lockdown as a precautionary measure to a matter they were investigating. The post stated that all students were safe in class and parents would be notified as soon as the lockdown was lifted. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s responded to the school campus and didn’t find any evidence of any threat on campus. However, the Sheriff’s brought up additional resources to aid in sweeping the entire campus and surrounding area and the situation was named precautionary. A post at around 1:30 p.m. stated that the lockdown was lifted. Classes remained in session until 2:20 p.m., as scheduled. Parents were sent to the gym to pick up their children and the school followed emergency release protocols, meaning that only those listed on the students emergency release card were able to pick up students and picture identification was required. All school activities were cancelled for that day and arrangements were made for students to take finals in January, when students returned to school after Winter Break. The post ended with: “We thank you for your patience during this incident. We appreciated the commitment of our local law enforcement officers in keeping our students and staff members safe.” Both the LA County Police Department and Sheriff’s Department have recently announced that they will increase daily patrols around local schools to protect against potential treats. The LA County Sheriff Department posted a news release after the Newtown tragedy regarding school safety, tips for parents, teachers, and schools, and new notification systems available to the community. Read this news release at http://nixle.us/84K5H. For more information, go to http://sheriff.lacounty.gov.