California School shooting forestalled after 4 teen plotters got busted

Tragedy was averted at Summerville High School in Tuolumne, California after a student plot to conduct a mass shooting was foiled.

The Tuolumne County Sheriff Jim Mele on Saturday told the media that four students at Summerville High School were arrested for allegedly plotting a school shooting, claiming that the students involved were planning to come on campus and shoot and kill as many people as possible, People magazine reported.

After the Summerville High School administration contacted the sheriff's office on Wednesday to report three of the students, who were identified by classmates who found their behavior suspicious, the authorities immediately launched an investigation that involved interviews with the suspects, as well as school staff and students, and two search warrants.

Mele stated that during the investigation the sheriff's office says that they discovered that a fourth student was involved, adding that detectives located evidence verifying a plot to shoot staff and students at Summerville High School.

The sheriff noted that the suspects' plan was very detailed in nature and included names of would-be victims, locations and the methods in which the plan was to be carried out.

Mele said although no weapons were found as it was the early stages of the alleged plot, this was a very serious threat, noting that families of all the four plotters were cooperative during the investigation.

Summerville Union High School District Superintendent Robert Griffith said that within a very short period of time the school district knew they didn't have an immediate threat to safety, which is why the school didn't go into lockdown, adding that "about 1,000" phone messages were sent to parents relaying information about the incident.

Pointing out that there is no further threat to students or staff at Summerville, Mele added that the names of the suspects will not be released as they're juveniles.