An online threat about someone possibly bringing a gun to Pierce College forced a seven-hour closure of the Woodland Hills campus Thursday, and a 26-year-old former student was arrested for allegedly making the threat.
“Pierce College was evacuated Thursday morning around 8 a.m. after the sheriff’s department notified the college president that a threat to the campus had been issued through social media,” college public information manager Doreen Clay said.
The suspect, Sergio Castanon Jr., was taken into custody about 11:45 a.m., according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Community College Bureau.
A search of Castanon’s Northridge residence turned up an assault rifle, handgun, several rounds of ammunition and illegal high-capacity magazines, according to the sheriff’s department.
Castanon was booked at the sheriff’s Malibu-Lost Hills Station on suspicion of making criminal threats and was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail, sheriff’s officials said.
According to the sheriff’s department, two people early this morning reported seeing “a threatening social media post that specifically named” the college.
The school, located in the 6200 block of Winnetka Avenue, reopened about 3 p.m., in advance of 3:30 p.m. classes and night courses, Clay said. Some student services, including the library and business office, were expected to reopen Friday, she said.
It is believed that Castanon never came to the campus, Clay said.
In the confusion that followed the school shutdown, unfounded reports surfaced that a gunman had been seen on campus, sheriff’s Deputy Tony Moore said.
Pierce College, a two-year institution, is part of the nine-campus Los Angeles Community College District.
It serves more than 21,000 students, according to the school. The campus, opened in 1947, covers about 426 acres in the western San Fernando Valley.
— Staff and wire reports