Two 17-year-old boys were among four persons detained in southern Texas for organizing an AK-47 killing at a school.
Nathaniel Montelongo and Barbarito Pantoja, both 17, were detained and accused with aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon conspiracy. Their mugshots were issued Thursday evening, and they are being detained on a $750,000 bail.
Two other students, both juveniles, were also detained in involvement with the conspiracy and will appear in court on Friday.
The four were apprehended when authorities in Donna, a tiny town in the Rio Grande Valley, got information from an unknown person that they were plotting an ambush on the school. Officials refused to say which district campus was the focus of the plot.
According to a source acquainted with the inquiry, authorities discovered an AK-47 and a list of targeted kids in the residence of one of the suspects on Wednesday.
On Thursday, though, police rejected the notion of the purported hit list and declined to offer any specifics about a possible weapons seizure, stating that the material was ‘important to the case’ and ‘would not be released.’
The scheme, which caused a school lockdown late Wednesday, occurred a day after a shooter massacred 19 children and two instructors at an elementary school in Uvalde, approximately 300 miles north of Donna.
On Thursday, cops held a press conference to announce the capture.
During the meeting, Donna Police Department Chief Donald Crist stated, they halted an act of physical assault and damage on their pupils.
He stated that the two adult guys, Montelongo and Pantoja, had been arraigned, but that the other suspects will appear before a juvenile court.
Authorities, who stressed that the threat to the school was ‘serious,’ dismissed social media allegations regarding a list targeting individual children.
Police Chief Gilbert Guerrero stated that there was no list of targets. There were some speculations flying around, but there were none.
The chief noted that the event is still being investigated and urged parents to keep a closer eye on their kids. He explained, keep an eye on your children and be aware of what they are doing. Monitor what they have in their rooms, and be cautious.
Officials also noted that because of the added help of various local enforcement organizations, they think Donna students are secure within the district.
After a school massacre threat triggered a lockdown on Wednesday, the district suspended classes on Thursday and Friday. After the Memorial Day weekend, school will return on Tuesday.
According to a person acquainted with the situation, the attackers planned to shoot up a school in the district.
According to the source, detectives discovered an AK-47 and a list of targeted pupils at the residence of one of the suspects. The list has been rejected by officials, and they have declined to say on the purported confiscated firearms.
While the AK-47 is best known as a Soviet-era machine gun, semi-automatic variants of the rifle are permitted for individual ownership in the United States.
The Donna Independent School District acknowledged the danger in a statement issued on Wednesday, stating, ‘We’ve acquired a genuine threat of violence, which is presently being investigated. We will cancel school district-wide and employees will work from home in light of recent events and out of prudence.’
Dear Donna ISD Community,
— Donna ISD (@Donna_ISD) May 26, 2022
Please read the following statement. pic.twitter.com/oWNhUaO3g6
According to the school schedule, the postponed school days will have an effect on a number of end-of-year awards ceremonies and achievement celebrations at Donna’s primary school.
The high school graduation for the district is set for June 3.
Officials announced in a social media statement that the senior class prom, which had been planned for Friday with the theme ‘Enchanted Forest’ following two years of pandemic interruptions, would be delayed but not cancelled.
The troubling probe in Donna occurred only a day after the bloodiest school shooting in the United States since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre over a decade ago.
On Tuesday, a shooter shot his grandmother in the face in a quarrel over his phone bill, killing 19 students and two instructors at Robb Elementary in Uvalde.
Police shot and killed the shooter, Salvador Rolando Ramos, 18, after he barricaded himself inside a classroom and killed the fourth graders inside.
