A senior at Palm Springs High School was arrested Tuesday following posts he allegedly made on social media depicting what authorities said appeared to be a handgun and threats indicating the student wanted to shoot people.
The boy, whose named was not released because he is a juvenile, lives in Cathedral City and was arrested at the Westfield mall in Palm Desert, said Cathedral City Police Department Cmdr. Paul Herrera.
Palm Springs Unified School District officials confirmed he was a senior at the school and there was an increased police presence at the high school earlier Tuesday morning.
The Palm Springs Police Department received word of the threats on Monday, and said in a statement Tuesday at about 7:50 a.m. that the boy had told police he had no intentions of shooting anybody. At 9:30 a.m., the statement was updated to reflect an arrest was made.
The investigation is ongoing. No further information was immediately available.
Anybody with information regarding the posting is urged to contact either the Palm Springs or Cathedral City police departments.