Sheriff's deputies investigate two apparently unfounded school threats

SANTEE - Authorities on Friday, Sept. 14, were investigating reports of an apparently unfounded shooting threat at San Marcos High School and a separate unfounded threat of violence at Santee's West Hills High School, officials said.

The threat at San Marcos High was reported sometime overnight and was unsubstantiated, San Diego County sheriff's Lt. Amber Baggs said.

No details on when or how the threat was made known or how deputies determined it was unfounded were immediately available.

Around 7:30 p.m. Thursday, deputies learned of an Instagram message threatening students not to come to school Friday or they would get hurt, sheriff's Sgt. Phil Beaumont said.

Upon further investigation, deputies discovered the original social media post was made by a student of Western Hills High School in Frankfort, Kentucky, Beaumont said. A Franklin County Sheriff's Department resource officer at the school advised that the threat was scratched into a stall of the women's restroom Thursday, and the incident was under investigation.

"We are aware of an unsubstantiated threat circulating on social media that includes reference to a possible act of violence at West Hills High School today,'' Grossmont Union High School District spokeswoman Catherin Martin tweeted.

Out of an abundance of caution, extra patrols will be conducted at West Hills High School throughout the day, Beaumont said.