The juvenile attempted to evade capture, but was ultimately arrested and booked into Riverside County Juvenile Hall. Their name was not released. The charges include obstructing/resisting an officer, possession of a weapon at school, possession of metal knuckles and threatening a crime with intent to terrorize.

Just after 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, officers responded to the high school where one student was brandishing metal knuckles and threatening another Banning High School Student, Smith said.

“When officers attempted to contact the student, the juvenile jumped a perimeter fence to avoid officers and began running from the school,” he said.

Officers located the student in the area of San Gorgonio Avenue and Lincoln Street, where the juvenile resisted officers, failing to comply with verbal commands, Smith said.

The juvenile was eventually taken into custody and was not injured during the incident. They were provided medical treatment as a precaution, he said.

“One officer involved in the incident sustained an injury and was taken to a local hospital for treatment,” Smith said.

No other information was immediately available. Anyone with information related to the incident is urged to contact the Banning Police Department Detective Bureau at 951-922-3170 and reference Banning Police Case #26-282.

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According to the Riverside Police Department, officers launched a School Threat Assessment and Response (STAR) investigation Monday night after parents from Central Middle School flagged a concerning Instagram post.

Police said the post showed a student holding what looked like a gun and contained a list of classmates’ names. Investigators worked through the night to identify the boy with help from the school resource officer.

According to police, a search of the student’s home uncovered a “realistic” toy gun, and the boy was arrested and booked into juvenile detention on suspicion of making criminal threats and conspiracy. Investigators said they expected a second student would also be charged with conspiracy.

The arrest comes amid a wave of similar social media threats reported in Southern California and nationally in recent weeks, leading to the arrests of students as young as 11.

Police in Riverside ask that threatening posts be reported to the city’s non-emergency line at 951-354-2007. Social media posts that suggest potential school violence, but without a specific threat, can be reported via the Atlas 1 mobile app.

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The incident in Riverside is the latest in a rash of threats plaguing California schools in recent weeks, prompting police investigations, school lockdowns and arrests of suspects as young as 11. Over the last week, authorities have also investigated non-credible threats at schools in the Bay Area and in Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties.

In Riverside, where a student was recently for allegedly making threats at Arlington High School, police said another incident happened Friday at Chemawa Middle School.

“This caused significant concern among parents, prompting many to withdraw their children early due to safety fears,” the department wrote on Facebook. “Our school resource officers promptly launched an investigation to trace the origin of this threat and ensure the safety of the school community.”

Police said tips rolled in over the weekend concerning a student believed to be responsible for the threat. On Tuesday, the school resource officer identified a 13-year-old girl as the alleged culprit. She is accused of posting a threat on social media, followed by a second post naming “targeted classmates.”

According to investigators, a search of the girl’s home confirmed she had no access to weapons. She was booked into a juvenile detention facility on suspicion of making criminal threats. Following the arrest, police leaders reiterated the serious consequences of making any kind of threat, even if it turns out to be a hoax.

“These recent disruptions to our schools must stop immediately so that our children can focus on their education,” said Larry Gonzalez, Riverside’s police chief. “Students who make threats of school violence on social media or by other means will face strict criminal consequences and severe disciplinary action, up to and including expulsion. We will not tolerate any behavior that undermines the safety and security of our schools.”

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California will ban people from carrying firearms in most public places while doubling the taxes on guns and ammunition sold in the state under two new laws Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Tuesday that will test the limits of the U.S. Supreme Court’s new standard for interpreting the Second Amendment.

The federal government already taxes the sale of guns and ammunition at either 10% or 11%, depending on the type of gun. The law Newsom signed adds another 11% tax on top of that — making California the only state with a separate tax on guns and ammunition, according to the gun control advocacy group Brady.

The money will pay for security improvements at public schools and a variety of gun violence prevention programs, including those geared toward young people in gangs. The money from the federal tax, which has been in place for more than 100 years, pays for wildlife conservation and hunter education programs. The laws were some of nearly two dozen gun control measures Newsom signed on Tuesday. But he acknowledged many of these laws might not survive legal challenges now that the U.S. Supreme Court has imposed a new standard on interpreting the nation’s gun laws.

Just last week, a federal judge struck down a California law banning guns with detachable magazines that carry more than 10 rounds — one of three major pending cases challenging California’s gun restrictions. “It may mean nothing if the federal courts are throwing them out,” Newsom said. “We feel very strongly that these bills meet the (new standard), and they were drafted accordingly. But I’m not naive about the recklessness of the federal courts and the ideological agenda.” The California Rifle and Pistol Association has already sued to block one new law Newsom signed on Tuesday that bans people from carrying guns in most public places.

The law overhauls the state’s rules for concealed carry permits in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen. It specifically bans people from carrying guns in 26 places, including public parks and playgrounds, public demonstrations and gatherings, amusement parks, churches, banks, zoos and “any other privately owned commercial establishment that is open to the public” unless the owner puts up a sign saying guns are allowed. “These laws will not make us safer.

They are an unconstitutional retaliatory and vindictive response to the Supreme Court’s affirmation that the Second Amendment protects an individuals’ right to choose to own a firearm for sport or to defend your family,” said Chuck Michel, president of the California Rifle and Pistol Association. “They are being challenged, and the second they are signed, the clock starts ticking towards a judgment striking them down.” Newsom — a potential Democratic candidate for president beyond 2024 — has a reputation as one of the country’s most liberal governors.

But he has often refused to raise taxes, even for causes he supports like combating climate change. However, Newsom said he viewed this tax differently than the other general increases he tends to oppose. He argued that gun violence already costs taxpayers a lot of money in health impacts and in the criminal justice system. “I think this is a pretty modest investment in prevention and reducing those costs, ultimately,” he said, later adding, “The carnage, it’s too much. We can’t normalize it, we can’t accept it. This is a small price to pay.” California has some of the lowest gun death rates in the country, ranking 43rd out of 50 states with 9 deaths for every 100,000 people, according to 2021 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But violent crimes have increased recently.

The violent crime rate increased by 6.1% in 2022, according to the California Department of Justice. No other state has a special tax just for guns and ammunition, although some local governments do. Tennessee once had a 10-cent tax on shotgun shells, but that tax was repealed in 2019. Pennsylvania collects a $3 surcharge on gun sales to pay for background checks. Fees on California gun purchases currently total more than $37, with most of that money paying for background checks. “Taxing firearm sales to fund violence intervention programs is essential to interrupting the cycle of violence and stopping gun violence before it begins, and we encourage other states to follow suit,” said Kris Brown, president of Brady.

The tax has some exceptions. It would not apply to police officers and it would not apply to businesses with sales of less than $5,000 over a three-month period. State officials estimate it would generate about $159 million annually. The law says the first $75 million of that money must go to the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program. The program has funded projects targeting young people in gangs, including sports programs, life coaching and tattoo removal. The next $50 million would go to the State Department of Education to boost security at public schools.

That includes things like physical security improvements, safety assessments, after-school programs for at-risk students and mental and behavioral health services for students, teachers and other school employees. That brought comfort to state Sen. Catherine Blakespear, a Democrat from San Diego, who said she was on the Senate floor earlier this year when she got a text message from her ninth-grader saying they were hiding under their desk. No one was injured. “I know that there are thousands of families that are going through this and normalizing the hardening of our schools,” she said. “The reality that we have to protect people by doing things like that is something that we don’t want in this state and in this country.”

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will double the taxes on guns and ammunition and use the money to pay for more security at public schools and various violence prevention programs under a new law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Tuesday.

The federal government already taxes the sale of guns and ammunition at either 10% or 11%, depending on the type of gun. The law Newsom signed adds another 11% tax on top of that — making it the only state with its own tax on guns and ammunition, according to the gun control advocacy group Brady.

Newsom — a potential Democratic candidate for president beyond 2024 — has a reputation as one of the country’s most liberal governors. But he has often refused to raise taxes, even for causes he supports like combating climate change.

But it would have been difficult for Newsom to veto this tax increase, given his outspoken support for gun restrictions at the state and national level. Newsom is in the middle of a national campaign to amend the U.S. Constitution to restrict gun sales to people over 21, require extensive background checks, impose a waiting period for purchases and ban the sale of assault-style weapons. Restrictions like that are in place in some states, but not in the Constitution.

That campaign is unlikely to succeed, given the political makeup of the other state Legislatures Newsom needs to convince. But it has put him at the forefront of an issue at the top of many Democratic voters’ lists.

Newsom said he viewed the tax as different than other general tax increases that he tends to oppose. He argued that gun violence already costs taxpayers a lot of money in health impacts and in the criminal justice system.

“I think this is a pretty modest investment in prevention and reducing those costs ultimately … The carnage, it’s too much. We can’t normalize it, we can’t accept it. This is a small price to pay,” he said.

Also on Tuesday, Newsom signed a law overhauling the state’s rules for carrying concealed weapons. The new rules are a reaction to a new standard for interpreting the nation’s gun laws that the U.S. Supreme Court issued last year. California’s new law bans people from carrying guns in nearly all public places — including public parks and playgrounds — public demonstrations and gatherings, amusement parks, churches, banks and any place where alcohol is sold.

Newsom also signed a law that, starting July 1, 2028, would require all semiautomatic pistols sold in California to have microstamping technology. That means each bullet would have a unique marking making it easier for law enforcement to trace the gun it was fired from back to its owner.

Chuck Michel, president of the California Rifle and Pistol Association, criticized the new laws — calling them unconstitutional.

“These laws will not make us safer. They are an unconstitutional retaliatory and vindictive response to the Supreme Court’s affirmation that the Second Amendment protects an individuals’ right to choose to own a firearm for sport or to defend your family,” he said. “They are being challenged, and the second they are signed, the clock starts ticking towards a judgment striking them down.”

No other state has a special tax just for guns and ammunition, though some local governments do. Tennessee once had a 10-cent tax on shotgun shells, but that tax was repealed in 2019. Pennsylvania collects a $3 surcharge on gun sales to pay for background checks. Fees on California gun purchases currently total more than $37, with most of that money paying for background checks.

“Taxing firearm sales to fund violence intervention programs is essential to interrupting the cycle of violence and stopping gun violence before it begins, and we encourage other states to follow suit,” said Kris Brown, president of Brady.

The federal tax on guns has been in place since 1918 and has survived multiple lawsuits. The money from that tax goes to the states, who use it to pay for wildlife conservation and hunter safety programs.

The California Rifle and Pistol Association has promised to challenge California’s new tax in court. A legislative analysis of the law Newsom signed on Tuesday said it is now an “open question” whether a lawsuit challenging the tax would be successful.

The tax has some exceptions. It would not apply to police officers and it would not apply to businesses with sales of less than $5,000 over a three-month period. State officials estimate it would generate about $159 million annually.

The law says the first $75 million of that money must go to the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program. The program has funded projects targeting young people in gangs, including sports programs, life coaching and tattoo removal.

The next $50 million would go to the State Department of Education to boost security at public schools. That includes things like physical security improvements, safety assessments, after-school programs for at-risk students and mental and behavioral health services for students, teachers and other school employees.

California has some of the lowest gun death rates in the country, ranking 43rd out of 50 states with 9 deaths for every 100,000 people, according to 2021 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — In the wake of an elementary school shooting in Tennessee earlier this week that left three 9-year-olds and three adults dead, state legislatures across the country are moving forward with bills aiming to improve school safety.

The bills have been introduced in blue and red states alike and would require schools to install technology ranging from panic buttons, video surveillance and emergency communications systems. Most have bipartisan support, with lawmakers seeing them as a way to boost school security while avoiding political gridlock on the hot-button issue of gun control. But some experts say teacher safety training is more effective and less expensive than the new technologies, which also can require upgrades or ongoing maintenance that may not be funded.

That hasn’t stopped states from Oregon to Missouri to Tennessee from pursuing the systems.

“I was asked by a colleague if our schools will have to become fortresses to keep our kids safe. And I told them yes, if that’s what it takes. I don’t care if we have to park a tank outside a school,” Tennessee’s Republican House Majority Leader William Lamberth said.

While Democratic state lawmakers have called for tighter gun laws as a way to stem school shootings, many are now also supporting the school emergency measures that have largely been touted by Republicans.

In Oregon, where Democrats control the Legislature, a bill that would require schools to send electronic notifications to parents as soon as possible after a safety threat occurs passed the state House unanimously this week. Two Democratic lawmakers are the chief sponsors of another bill that would require all public school classrooms to have panic alert devices that would contact law enforcement or emergency services when activated.

If passed, the panic alert bill would make Oregon the fourth state — along with Republican-led Florida and Democratic-led New Jersey and New York — to enact such a law. Several other states are considering similar legislation.

“If there’s anything we know, it’s that during an emergency, time equals life,” said one of the Oregon bill’s chief sponsors, Democratic state Rep. Emerson Levy.

Some school districts aren’t waiting for legislation to implement new security measures such as panic devices.

Las Vegas’s Clark County School District, among the 10 largest districts nationwide, is now using a system involving badges called CrisisAlert. The badges can be worn around the neck and pressed to call for help or trigger a schoolwide lockdown.

Olathe Public Schools in suburban Kansas City, the second-largest district in the state, also adopted CrisisAlert. The district has yet to use it to respond to an active shooter situation, according to Jim McMullen, who oversees the district’s Safety Services Department and also serves as assistant superintendent of middle school education. But he said school personnel use the badge every day for things ranging from student fights to medical emergencies.

“Earlier today we used it when we had a student who was unconscious. The staff member, instead of leaving the kid to go call for help, was able to just hit their button three times and had a lot of assistance real quickly,” he said on Thursday.

“We’ve gotten tremendous feedback from our staff regarding the fact that it makes them feel safer, empowered,” McMullen said.

Panic alert devices gained steam after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Lori Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter, Alyssa, was among the 17 killed, founded the group Make Our Schools Safe and began advocating for panic buttons. She had texted her daughter as shots rang out that help was on the way.

“It’s really so important to be proactive, and to really accept the fact that unfortunately this can happen anywhere at any time, as we’ve seen over and over again,” said Lori Kitaygorodsky, the group’s spokesperson. “There’s really nothing to lose by being prepared.”

Some Republican-led states have boosted funding for school safety in order to help schools pay for new devices like panic buttons. Installing CrisisAlert, for example, costs at least $8,000 per campus under a three- to five-year contract, according to Will Fullerton, senior vice president for government affairs at Centegix, the Atlanta-based company that makes the product.

The number of schools using CrisisAlert nearly doubled from 2021 to 2022, according to the company. The badge system delivered over 50,000 alerts in the Fall 2022 semester, a 100% increase from the same time the previous year, said vice president of marketing Stacy Meyer in an email.

After a shooter killed 19 children and two teachers last May at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, state officials announced $105 million for school safety and mental health initiatives. Nearly half of that was slated for bullet-resistant shields for school police and $17 million was for districts to purchase panic-alert technology.

The Missouri House on Thursday approved a 2024 budget with $50 million for school safety grants, on top of $20 million already authorized for school safety in the current year. Schools will be able to use the money on technology including door locking devices, intercom systems and video surveillance equipment.

While one-time grants can allow schools to purchase new technology, they don’t always fund upkeep over longer periods of time. Ken Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, a consulting firm based in Cleveland, Ohio, said he’s found items like security cameras gathering dust in boxes in some of the schools that he’s worked with.

“There’s no budget to repair, replace and maintain them after they put them in … Things are pushed into a closet and not used again,” he said.

“The basic fundamental tools are not being properly used — staff not being properly trained, doors that are propped open,” he said, adding that the focus should be on “situational awareness, pattern recognition … and then making cognitive decisions under stress.”

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Associated Press writers Kimberlee Kruesi and David A. Lieb contributed reporting from Nashville, Tennessee and Jefferson City, Missouri.

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