Lockdown at Righetti High School was related to Atascadero 'shoot-up' school threat

A weapons threat that led to lockdowns at Righetti and St. Joseph high schools in Santa Maria on Wednesday morning was unrelated to the two schools, and instead referred to the gun threat at Atascadero High School, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office said.

A Santa Maria Joint Unified High School District representative said the lockdowns were prompted by an anonymous text warning that "there is a weapon on campus."

District public information officer Kenny Klein said several students received the text Wednesday morning, and promptly reported it to staff. Lockdown procedures were initiated while law enforcement investigated.

According to a Sheriff's Office release, the text apparently threatened violence during the planned National School Walkout to commemorate the one-month anniversary of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

After searches by a school resource deputy and sheriff's deputies, the threat was determined to be unrelated to the two Santa Barbara County schools.

According to the release, once the threat was found to be unrelated, Righetti and St. Joseph were released from the lockdown.

Klein said about 150 students were pulled out of class after the lockdown.

In Atascadero, a student made threats to "shoot up" the northern San Luis Obispo County high school. The student was taken into custody and police determined no other students were involved.

This story was originally published March 14, 2018 at 10:39 AM with the headline "Lockdown at Righetti High School was related to Atascadero 'shoot-up' school threat."