Police Arrest Student for Tuesday’s Threat at Palo Alto High School

Published on April 27, 2023

Palo Alto, CA – Following a joint investigation with school officials, police arrested a 17-year-old Palo Alto High School student this afternoon for posting a note threatening a school shooting after its discovery on Tuesday morning prompted a shelter-in-place.

On Tuesday, April 25, 2023, at about 8:57 a.m., our 24-hour dispatch center received a call from administrators at Palo Alto High School at 50 Embarcadero Road reporting a suspicious circumstance.  A teacher had arrived at school that morning and discovered a written threat of violence taped to the front door of the classroom.  The threat indicated that the person who left the note intended to “shoot up” the classroom later that morning.  It should be noted that a final examination was scheduled to occur later that morning in that same classroom.

Police worked in close collaboration with school administrators, who opted to place the campus into a shelter-in-place status as a precaution until about 10:30 a.m. when the preliminary investigation concluded.

Over the next two days, officers and school officials worked together to investigate the case in an attempt to identify the person responsible.  This afternoon, that investigation culminated in the identification of a 17-year-old male Palo Alto High School student as the suspect.  Officers arrested the student for criminal threats (a felony) and released him to the custody of family members.  There is no evidence that the student ever had access to a firearm.  In accordance with our standard release of information procedures, no additional information on the suspect is available since he is under the age of 18.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.