The M-A lockdown: Here’s the sequence of events according to the Atherton Police Department

by Contributed Content on April 4, 2018

At approximately 11:30 am on April 4, the Atherton Police Department received a call from San Mateo County Public Safety Communications saying they had taken a report from a caller stating that a teenage male had posted a picture of himself with a gun on Facebook. The photograph appeared to have been taken in a restroom about two hours prior at approximately 9:30 am.

The caller reported that the photograph may have been taken inside a high school restroom. The caller thought that the teenager in the photograph attended Woodside High School. Further investigation determined that the subject in question was a former Menlo Atherton High School student who had recently been expelled.

At that point, Atherton PD directed M-A to lockdown.

An M-A employee looked at the photograph of the male teenager with the gun, and told officers that the restroom in the photograph was an M-A restroom.

During the lockdown, Atherton PD officers performed a thorough search of the campus, including restrooms and classrooms. It was determined that the subject in question was not on the M-A campus.

The investigators were able to locate a cell phone number for the subject and placed a telephone call to him. The subject stated he was at a job site in Campbell.

Atherton investigators contacted the Campbell Police Department, who responded to the job site and made contact with the male subject, who told them the photograph was taken weeks ago in a restaurant in Redwood City, not at M-A.

Officers responded to the restaurant and confirmed that the restroom wall background matched the wall in the Facebook photo.

Campbell Police officers interviewed the teenage subject, who they determined was not in possession of a gun. The subject also stated that he had no intention of harming himself or others.

The teenage male subject is a 16-year-old resident of East Palo Alto.

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