BREAKING NEWS MSNBC Updated: 2 hours, 6 minutes ago
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.”
Sutter County sheriff’s officers were looking for Jeffery Thomas Carney, 28, a transient. Undersheriff J. Paul Parker told MSNBC-TV that Carney telephoned his pastor and and family members Wednesday night to say he had an automatic weapon, improvised explosive devices and poison.
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.
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Parker said Carney was an alleged methamphetamine user and “was exhibiting symptoms of methamphetamine psychosis.”
The sheriff’s department described Carney as a 28-year-old 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.
His last known address was with family members in north Yuba City, about 50 miles north of Sacramento, NBC affiliate KCRA of Sacramento reported. Officials said he may be driving a red 1990s-model Honda or Toyota sedan with a black hood, a distinctive car that they hoped would be easy to spot. They asked anyone who had seen it to call 530-822-7307.
‘Copycat’ threats reported nationwideThe scare comes as schools nationwide have been reporting would-be “copycat” threats in the wake of the mass shootings at Virginia Tech by Cho Sueng-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 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.
