Monrovia Man Arrested on Suspicion of Making Gun Threats

A 26-year-old Monrovia man has been arrested for making recent gun threats, including one last week that prompted a lockdown at Santa Fe Middle School.

Gerardo Cortez has been booked at the Monrovia Police Department on suspicion of five counts of felony making criminal threats and five counts of false report of an emergency, according to a news release.  

Monrovia Police Department detectives plan to forward the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for consideration of criminal filing, officials said.

The arrest was part of a five-agency effort to investigate the recent threats to Santa Fe, medical facilities in West Covina, and schools in Duarte and Arcadia last week. The FBI got involved in the case last week to assist with the investigation.  

"A series of phone calls last week threatening to shoot people at a hospital, a mall, and school campuses in the San Gabriel Valley resulted in numerous locations being locked down, and police officers and sheriff’s deputies searching the campuses, hospitals, mall, other buildings, and nearby communities," authorities said in a news release.  "Out of an abundance of caution for public safety, the schools, hospital, and mall were searched in the cities of Arcadia, Covina, Duarte, Glendora, Monrovia and West Covina." 

The various agencies investigating used "advanced technology" to find the suspect, who was arrested today at 4 p.m. as he left his Monrovia home. 

The investigation continues, including the serving of a search warrant at the suspect's home.

Cortez is being held on $250,000 bail. He will appear in court Sept. 19.

"All policing agencies involved in this investigation took this very seriously. The nature of these criminal threats brought tremendous fear to students, faculty, parents, patients, and the community," authorities said. "It also drew a significant amount of policing resources away from other legitimate purposes.  Incidents such as these will continue to be handled in a serious manner."