(KRON) — A man who allegedly threatened to blow up a San Jose high school was identified and arrested by police this week. Efren Loredo, 49, of San Jose, made threats against multiple targets, including Yerba Buena High School, between September 1-11, according to police.
Loredo claimed that he planned to “blow up the campuses” on September 1, San Jose Police Department spokesperson Stacie Shih wrote. While students sheltered inside locked classrooms, officers searched Yerba Buena High School’s campus. Police did not find any dangerous devices.
Police officers also responded to multiple calls for suspicious circumstances at various locations throughout the city involving bomb threats and swatting calls. “A swatting call is when a hoax call is made regarding a serious crime to draw a large response from law enforcement,” Shih explained.
On September 11, SJPD officers went to a home where Loredo’s ex-girlfriend lives in San Jose. The address was linked to an online message that stated a person in the home was going to kill his family, Shih said.
“Officers responded to the house and located all the occupants alive and well, and did not perceive any threat to safety. There was also a prior swatting call involving the same address on September 4, (when) SJPD responded to a call of a resident claiming he was going to shoot himself,” Shih wrote.
Loredo had a long history of making threats against his ex-girlfriend and her current husband, police said. Loredo also made threats and swatting calls in Redwood City, as well as Kansas City, Missouri, according to police.
SJPD officers arrested Loredo on Monday. Investigators seized electronic devices as evidence from his San Jose home. He was booked into a Santa Clara County jail on suspicion of making criminal threats, stalking, and violating of a protective order.
