Fremont High School student arrested for anti-Semitic threats

A 17 year old student was arrested for criminal threats and hate crimes directed against Jewish students at  Fremont High School in Sunnyvale and Homestead High School in Cupertino.

From the Department of Public Safety in Sunnyvale;

 Investigators believe the suspect was acting alone and there is no current danger to students and staff. DPS increased security at the school this morning to ensure everyone's safety. Sunnyvale DPS and the school will continue to work together to ensure the safety of the students. School administrators will continue to keep parents and students updated. 

The messages were sent from an Instagram account with the name "Jewslaughter." 

 "Jews disgust me, I'll f***ing kill you. I got connections to the aryan brotherhood gang. You and the rest of your people are dead."

The J weekly- the Jewish News Weekly of Northern California posted a screenshot of the threat

The principal of Fremont High School Bryan Emmert posted the following message on the school's website:

Dear Fremont High School Community,

I am writing to provide you with a brief update on the situation regarding criminal threats posted to social media that the district has been dealing with over the last several days.

As you know, over the holiday weekend, FUHSD administrators were notified by a number of students and families from Fremont and Homestead high schools about anonymous threats posted to social media sites. I would like to take this opportunity to commend the students that came forward with this information for the courage and care they demonstrated in bringing these threats to the attention of the school district and law enforcement. If it were not for their bravery and concern for their peers, teachers and school staff, law enforcement may have been unable to identify and apprehend the individual responsible for these threats as quickly as they did.

I would also like to express our sincere gratitude to the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety for working closely with district leadership and staff to take all necessary precautions to ensure the security of our schools. SDPS worked tirelessly to investigate these threats and to locate and arrest the perpetrator in less than 24 hours. We could not be more thankful for the support of SDPS in bringing about a positive resolution in what has been a serious and unsettling situation for all of us.

SDPS believes that the perpetrator acted alone in making these criminal threats. Their investigation did not yield any evidence that the individual was capable of carrying out the threats. The official statement from SDPS can be read here: http://local.nixle.com/alert/5718763/.

This morning, both SDPS and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office had a presence on the Fremont and Homestead campuses as an extra precaution, reassuring students and staff of the safety of our campuses. We thank both law enforcement agencies for their assistance in ensuring a smooth start and end to the school day so that students did not experience an interruption in their regular instructional day.

Student and staff safety remains our number one priority. As a district, we look forward to beginning the healing from this difficult situation united together as one community.

Thank you all for your support during this time.

Sincerely,

Bryan Emmert
Principal


The culprit has not been identified.