Police were tipped off by concerned parents who saw a posting on facebook. The post warned students to stay home from school. A former student said he had a gun and was going to kill everyone. 

 

Palm Springs High School graduate, David Torres, is behind bars, charged with criminal threats

Torres posted on a friends facebook page "im going 2 kill every 1 at pshs 2morrow so stay home i got a gun."

 

The posting was intended as a prank but taken very seriously by law enforcement and district officials.

 

"The school district and law enforcement always take any kind of threat, it doesn't matter what it is, if it's a threat of any kind we take it seriously and we have plans for collaboration and response," said Jane Mills, Director of Student Services for the Palm Springs Unified School District.

 

The post was reported by parents and police arrested Torres within hours. After searching his home they realized the facebook post was a hoax.

 

"We take these matters very seriously," Palm Springs Police Sergeant Mike Kovaleff said. "Last week the trust and security of parents and children in the United States of America was shattered by the incident that happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut. It is our responsibility as law enforcement to resurrect that safety and we will do everything possible to make sure our children are safe and parents feel safe sending their children to school."

 

News quickly spread online. Some students chose to stay home even though the whole thing was fake. Others are disturbed by their peers saying there's nothing funny about threatening to bring a gun to school. 

 

"If I saw this kid I would tell him to grow up because that was really immature what he said on facebook and especially after what happened in Connecticut because no body should be joking around like that especially during this time," recent high school graduate Oscar Martinez said.

 

Palm Springs Police have already ramped up patrols at all schools in the city. They say threats of any kind will not be tolerated. They're encouraging students, teachers and parents to keep and eye on one another and report any suspicious activity immediately.

 

--Adrianna Weingold

aweingold@kmir6.com