Shooting Threat at Los Angeles' Loyola Marymount Leads to Student's Arrest

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, a student was arrested this past Saturday after he was linked to internet-based college campus shooting threats.

The student was 21-year-old Carlos Huerta, a senior at Loyola Marymount University in west Los Angeles. He was taken into police custody by officers at his apartment near the campus at around 10:15 Saturday night.

It all started when an anonymous threat was posted on a popular college student blog site, juicycampus.com. Loyola Marymount safety personnel reported the threat to police after someone tipped them off. The threat stated that the suspect would shoot and kill numerous people until killed by police.

The Los Angeles Police Department immediately put their Major Crimes and Computer Crimes Unit on the case. They found that the threat had come from a computer used and registered under Carlos Huerta's name. They then decided that it was sufficient enough evidence to take the Loyola Marymount Student into police custody.

Additionally safety personnel at the school alerted faculty, students, and other staff about the threats to make sure that safety was maintained at the campus.

Deputy Chief Michael Downing, head of the LAPD's Counterterrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau, said, "There was never an indication the threat made was a valid one, and there is no on-going threat to LMU."

What may be even scarier is that this is the second threat that the LAPD has had to deal with since the Omaha, Nebraska mall shooting that occurred back on December 5th. The other incident was a threat against the Grove, a popular Los Angeles shopping mall. The threat was made by an 20-year-old Australian man, who was detained by Australian authorities and will most likely owe over $100,000 to the LAPD for investigation fees and other expenses. He will go to court for his criminal charges.

Chief Downing added, "As was the case involving LMU, there was never any real threat to the Grove. What is clear however is that we take any threat seriously and will quickly respond, track down those responsible for sending the messages, and we will arrest them."

Anyone with information regarding this specific incident, is asked to immediately call the Los Angeles Police Department's Major Crimes Division at 213-485-2000. During off-hours, non-business hours, or on weekends call the 24-hour toll free tip line number at 1-877-LAWFULL (529-3855). As always, all information can be reported anonymous or confidentially.

Source: Los Angeles Police Department. "Internet-based threat against university results in arrest." http://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/news_view/37145