CA students arrested for plotting shooting

Two students in southern California have been arrested on charges that they were plotting a school shooting when classes resumed for the 2014-2015 academic year.

KTLA reports the students singled out three specific faculty members at Pasadena's South Pasadena High School. The students also threatened to kill as many students as possible before they were stopped.

The police said they searched each of the students' homes after receiving warrants. While carrying out the searches, the police were able to accumulate enough evidence to allow them to arrest the students.

CBS Los Angeles reports that one of the students tried to run from the police and avoid arrest. The police said they had to break into his house to apprehend him. The police say that while neither boy had acquired firearms, they were actively seeking them. The police also said that the boys had conducted Internet searches about how to manufacture bombs using propane canisters.

The police were notified about the threat by the school district last week. After the police department learned of the threat, they began surveillance on the students in question to acquire probable cause for a search warrant. Both students were set to begin their senior year.

Classes begin at the students' school, South Pasadena High School, Aug. 21. The school is located less than 10 miles to the northeast of Los Angeles. South Pasadena has around 25,000 residents.

Pasadena Star-News says that there was one other mass shooting in the school's history. The incident took place years before similar mass school shootings became a constant feature of the news cycle and popular imagination.

On May 6, 1940, a disgruntled former principal brought a gun to the campus and opened fire. He killed five school employees because he was angry that he had been fired by the school district.