Fresno police question second teen in San Joaquin Memorial threat case

Fresno police questioned a second teenager on Wednesday involved in a perceived Instagram threat that shut down San Joaquin Memorial High School and led to the felony arrest of a student on Tuesday.

Fresno police detective Mark Salazar said he interviewed the second teen, who attended Memorial last year but has since moved to a school outside Fresno County. Salazar also spoke with officials at the boy’s new school. He was not arrested.

The teen, who was not identified, responded to an Instagram post by a 15-year-old Memorial student containing lyrics about the Columbine High School shooting from Eminem’s “I’m Back.”

The post read: “I take seven kids from Columbine, stand ’em all in a line, add an AK-47, a revolver, a nine, a MAC-11 and it oughtta solve the problem of mine. And that’s a whole school of bullies shot up all at one time. I’m just like Shady and just as crazy as the world was over this whole Y2K thing.”

The second boy responded by saying “Bring me with man. I got some stuff [to] settle.” The suspect, who faces a felony charge of making criminal threats, responded “Ill text you when. I got a couple idiots’ blocks I could knock off.”

A search of the Memorial student’s home yielded several guns, which both he and his father denied knowledge of, Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer said Tuesday.

Salazar said police received a detailed statement from the second boy on the situation and the 15-year-old suspect.

The Memorial student’s lawyer said Tuesday the Instagram account was hacked; his client did not post the lyrics or the response.

As part of a search warrant executed at the suspect’s home, the 15-year-old’s phone and computer were confiscated. Salazar said it will take police forensics a week or two to determine whether the posts came from either device.

Salazar said he visited Memorial High briefly on Wednesday, and it appeared to be “business as usual.” He was unaware of any issues on the campus.

San Joaquin Memorial Principal Stephanie Nitchals could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

This story was originally published September 2, 2015 at 4:38 PM with the headline "Fresno police question second teen in San Joaquin Memorial threat case."