San Marcos High School near Goleta again has been the target of threats of violence, this time through graffiti messages discovered Friday in the school’s locker room, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department.
Santa Barbara Unified School District officials were notified about 9:30 a.m. after a student took a picture of three graffiti messages in the boy’s locker room and posted it on social media, according to Kelly Hoover, a sheriff’s department spokeswoman.
School administrators also became aware of the graffiti from “several” anonymous posts on the STOPit reporting app, Hoover said.
She didn’t disclose the nature of the threats.
Friday’s messages make for the second time that potentially threatening graffiti has been discovered at San Marcos within the past week.
Sheriff’s deputies on campus Friday — part of an increased presence to provide security after a graffiti message threatened a school shooting on Friday was found scrawled in the girl’s locker room Wednesday — responded immediately and began an investigation into the incident, Hoover said.
“At this time, there is no evidence to suggest the graffiti located on March 7 is related to the threatening messages located on today’s date,” Hoover said. “Sheriff’s deputies and school administrators are working together to determine the source of the graffiti.”
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 805.683.2724. Anonymous tips can be offered at 805.681.4171 or online by clicking here.
“While the validity of these threats has not yet been determined, the sheriff’s office takes all threats of school violence seriously and investigates these matters accordingly,” Hoover said. “Sheriff’s deputies will continue increased patrols of the campus today and next week.”
She said detectives assigned to the Criminal Investigations Division will investigate.
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.