36 California schools under Threat lockdown*

Suspect threatened to ‘make Virginia Tech look mild,’ sheriff’s office says

BREAKING NEWS
MSNBC
Updated: 4:06 p.m. PT April 19, 2007

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.”

Local officials said Jeffrey Thomas Carney, 28, called his pastor at the
United Methodist Church on Wednesday evening and said he was armed with
an AK-47 rifle, improvised explosive devices and poison and would seek
to provoke a confrontation with police to “commit suicide-by-cop.”

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.

“At about 8:30 a.m. we asked the principals to put all schools in
lockdown,” said Nancy Aaberg, superintendent of the Yuba City Unified
School District. “We just kind of felt it was a consistent
across-the-board safety measure.”

“It was a generic threat; there was no specific threat to any of our
specific schools or any other schools from this particular suspect,” she
said in an interview. “We actually had police at all of our campuses.”

Officials also sent high school students home early.

Sutter County said Carney had no known address, but court records listed
an address on Jamie Drive in Yuba City when he was arrested on felony
domestic violence charges April 4 in Yuba City, about 50 miles north of
Sacramento.

It was not immediately clear why Carney, who Parker said had a long
criminal record, was free after that arrest.

Description of suspect
The sheriff’s department described Carney as a 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.

Parker said Carney “was exhibiting symptoms of methamphetamine
psychosis” and was several pounds lighter than he appeared in a recent
arrest photograph because of methamphetamine abuse.

Yuba City police spokeswoman Shawna Pavey said Thursday afternoon that
officers had found a car that may belong to Carney and were searching
for him. Nearby streets were closed off, and SWAT officials joined the hunt.

Authorities asked anyone who had seen Carney to call 530-822-7307.

Court records show that two years ago Carney filed for bankruptcy,
listing total liabilities of $20,718, including $9,674 due in child
support. He listed his occupation at the time as personal assistant to
his mother, Marie Carney.

The mother did not return calls; his father declined to comment when
reached by cell phone.

‘Copycat’ threats reported nationwide

The scare comes as schools nationwide have been reporting would-be
“copycat” threats in the wake of the mass shootings at Virginia Tech by
Cho Seung-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
shut down 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.