36 Schools Under Lockdown

[Diamond Cross]

36 California schools under lockdown

Suspect threatened to ‘make Virginia Tech look mild,’ sheriff’s office says


BREAKING NEWS
MSNBC

Updated: 4:06 p.m. PT April 19, 2007
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YUBA CITY, Calif. - Authorities put all 36 schools in 12 Northern California school districts under lockdown Thursday as police searched for a man who claimed he was planning an armed attack that would “make Virginia Tech look mild.”

Local officials said Jeffrey Thomas Carney, 28, called his pastor at the United Methodist Church on Wednesday evening and said he was armed with an AK-47 rifle, improvised explosive devices and poison and would seek to provoke a confrontation with police to “commit suicide-by-cop.”
Sheriff’s officials said Carney made no specific threat to any particular place. But because of the reference to the massacre of 32 students and professors Monday at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, principals at all 36 of the schools in the county’s 12 school districts shut down their campuses and locked students in for safety, Assistant Superintendent Linda Protine said.

“At about 8:30 a.m. we asked the principals to put all schools in lockdown,” said Nancy Aaberg, superintendent of the Yuba City Unified School District. “We just kind of felt it was a consistent across-the-board safety measure.”

“It was a generic threat; there was no specific threat to any of our specific schools or any other schools from this particular suspect,” she said in an interview. “We actually had police at all of our campuses.”

Officials also sent high school students home early.

Sutter County said Carney had no known address, but court records listed an address on Jamie Drive in Yuba City when he was arrested on felony domestic violence charges April 4 in Yuba City, about 50 miles north of Sacramento.

It was not immediately clear why Carney, who Parker said had a long criminal record, was free after that arrest.

Description of suspect

The sheriff’s department described Carney as a white male, 6 feet, 1 inch tall, weighing 190 pounds, with brown eyes and short brown hair. Parker said he had an extensive criminal record, most recently for domestic violence.

Sutter County Sheriff's Department

Jeffrey Thomas Carney in an undated arrest photo.

Parker said Carney “was exhibiting symptoms of methamphetamine psychosis” and was several pounds lighter than he appeared in a recent arrest photograph because of methamphetamine abuse.
Yuba City police spokeswoman Shawna Pavey said Thursday afternoon that officers had found a car that may belong to Carney and were searching for him. Nearby streets were closed off, and SWAT officials joined the hunt.


Authorities asked anyone who had seen Carney to call 530-822-7307.

Court records show that two years ago Carney filed for bankruptcy, listing total liabilities of $20,718, including $9,674 due in child support. He listed his occupation at the time as personal assistant to his mother, Marie Carney.

The mother did not return calls; his father declined to comment when reached by cell phone.

‘Copycat’ threats reported nationwide

The scare comes as schools nationwide have been reporting would-be “copycat” threats in the wake of the mass shootings at Virginia Tech by Cho Seung-Hui, who killed 32 people Monday before killing himself.
Several high schools in metropolitan Detroit were on high alert Thursday after threats referring to the Virginia Tech shootings were found in bathrooms at two Oakland County schools, and Kalamazoo Valley Community College was shut down for the rest of the week, NBC affiliate WDIV of Detroit reported.

Eight buildings reopened Thursday after they were evacuated Wednesday at the University of Minnesota when a bomb threat was found in a chemistry building restroom.

Wednesday, Hastings College of the Law at the University of California shut down after police noticed a blog posting threatening a shooting on campus, NBC affiliate KNTV of San Francisco reported.

Since Monday’s killings, similar threats have also led to investigations or temporary lockdowns of schools in Arizona, Louisiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, according to local reports compiled by MSNBC.com.

36 California schools under lockdown - Crime & Punishment - MSNBC.com

I just don't understand the minds of copy cat criminals. It's not a cool thing, it just turns you into monsters.

[Kytro]

Originally Posted by Diamond Cross

I just don't understand the minds of copy cat criminals. It's not a cool thing, it just turns you into monsters.

You can break these people down into 2 main groups:

1) Those that make threats, but would not carry through

2) Those that would copycat

For group 1 they are probably seeking to draw attention to themselves for several reasons to such as challenging authority, gaining a feeling of power etc.

For the second group, attention is likely to be important as well, though often they see that someone else has success (they may have had similar thoughts) and this can prompt them copy them and succeed also.

The problem with understanding others if you have to realize sometimes they have significantly different values and beliefs

[Ardentfrost]

Originally Posted by Kytro

You can break these people down into 2 main groups:

1) Those that make threats, but would not carry through

2) Those that would copycat

For group 1 they are probably seeking to draw attention to themselves for several reasons to such as challenging authority, gaining a feeling of power etc.

For the second group, attention is likely to be important as well, though often they see that someone else has success (they may have had similar thoughts) and this can prompt them copy them and succeed also.

The problem with understanding others if you have to realize sometimes they have significantly different values and beliefs

It seems both cases would be exacerbated by the amount of attention Cho has gotten post-mortem. Showing the vids he made, his pics, his plays... Now that I think about it, he's gotten more attention than the victims.

[Kytro]

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

It seems both cases would be exacerbated by the amount of attention Cho has gotten post-mortem. Showing the vids he made, his pics, his plays... Now that I think about it, he's gotten more attention than the victims.

Absolutely, a product of modern society. People complain and get angry about this fact, but still they watch stories.