A City of San Fernando resident was arrested Monday morning after allegedly threatening to commit a mass shooting at an elementary school if he did not receive $1 billion.
The San Fernando Police Department identified the suspect as 29-year-old Marcos Ramos late Tuesday afternoon. He has no prior convictions.
On Sept. 2, an insurance company in San Diego received an online survey response from an individual threatening to carry out a school shooting if money was not transferred to his account.
“I will start a mass shooting at an elementary school if $1 billion is not deposited to my bank account overnight,” the threat read.
The threat was not discovered until Friday, Sept. 9, when the insurance company notified local authorities. After an investigation, it was discovered that the response came from an individual living in the City of San Fernando.
The SFPD was then notified on the morning of Sat., Sept. 10. After an investigation and obtaining a search warrant, Ramos was arrested on Sept. 12, on charges of making criminal threats. Four firearms were seized from his home including two rifles and two handguns, as well as multiple kinds of electronic equipment.
“We took that threat very seriously because public safety and the safety of our children is very important,” SFPD spokesperson Lt. Irwin Rosenberg said. “And as a result of the efforts of our detectives, combined with the great efforts of our patrol officers in taking the initial report, we were able to secure a search warrant and we executed that on Monday morning … at 7 in the morning.”
SFPD intends to present the case to the district attorney’s office on Wednesday for consideration for filing.
No specific elementary school was mentioned as the target for the shooting threat. At no time did Ramos indicate a specific location.
This arrest is one of the most high profile in the city’s history. It also comes a little under four months after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where 21 people were killed and 16 more were injured.
In a school shooting tracker by Education Week, there have been 29 school shootings so far in 2022 that have resulted in injury or death. The highest number of school shootings that resulted in injury or death is 34 in 2021.