Police Arrested Three Teens For Woodland High Shooting Hoax, Now Who Pays For The Emergency Response?
WOODLAND (CBS13) — Police in Woodland announced the arrest of two 15-year-old boys and a 16-year-old boy in connection to fake shooting threat last Friday at Woodland High School that lead to a campus lockdown and evacuation.
The boys can't be named because they are juveniles and Police Sgt. Dallas Hyde said the investigation is still active.
The teens were taken into custody by a school resource officer and booked into the Yolo County Juvenile Hall. All three were charged with conspiracy, and the 16-year-old was also charged with making a false crime report.
The teens are students at the school. Police believe they called in the threat from a phone inside a classroom.
The lockdown took place at 10 a.m. Friday when dispatchers received two calls — one said there was a shooting. The calls were then traced back to a classroom.
READ ALSO: Shooting Threat Deemed 'Not Credible' After Woodland High School Put On Lockdown
Residents were frightened and feared for their safety during the incident. They feel someone should pay for the careless prank.
"I would say the parents of those kids should be responsible," said Annabelle Sanchez, who lives steps from the school. "The helicopter was out here, the police department was out where they could have been somewhere else thinking that it was a real threat."
Sacramento lawyer Mark Reichel says charging the teens or the parents for the cost of the emergency response won't be that easy.
"It's probably something that's not going to sit well with viewers and taxpayers," said Reichel. "But the law in California is really clear, it's been that way for a long time, and most states do not require parents to pay for a hoax."
Woodland police haven't determined a motive for the prank yet.
Reichel added that it would take a change in legislation for parents to be charged for the crimes of kids and investigators would have to prove that they were negligent in any way that allowed a crime to happen under their watch.
"Just because their parents we do protect them, we protect their pocketbooks and the state is going to absorb this one," said Reichel.