Benicia High School was placed on a temporary precautionary lockdown Monday morning in response to a threat made by a 15-year-old male student.

According to Lt. Mike Greene, Benicia Police Department had received reports of a student making active shooter-type threats on social media. The department then notified Benicia Unified School District, and Benicia High School was placed on lockdown around 9:48 a.m. Shelters in place were also established at nearby Mary Farmar Elementary School and Benicia Middle School.

Police visited the Benicia High campus, and arrested the student on school grounds after determining who the suspect was.

“The student was very cooperative with us,” Greene said. “He was placed under arrest for making the threat. Once we were satisfied that there was no threat to any of the student body, we worked with the school district again, and they lifted the school lockdown.”

The lockdowns at Mary Farmar and Benicia Middle School were lifted before 10:37 a.m., and the lockdown at Benicia High was lifted at 10:55 a.m. At press time, the suspect was placed in custody.

Classes had resumed as normal, although some concerned parents did come to school to pick their children up and some students opted to go home early that day.

During the lockdown, Benicia Police Department actively worked to keep the public informed through its Facebook and Twitter sites and also dispelled rumors being passed around social media, including reports of a gun being brought to campus and the student having a hit list.

“There were no weapons or firearms found at the school or in the student’s possession,” Greene said. “No matter how much information we put out, we’re also competing with the student body, and most of the students have cellphones, so we discovered a lot of information was being sent out from the student body to parents and social media, and there was some initial misinformation that was put out there.”

Greene praised Benicia Police Department for quickly solving the case and keeping the public informed.

“I was really happy with how our staff responded to this and how we worked so well with the school district,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re happy that nobody was hurt.”

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