Oklahoma man charged for allegedly threatening to shoot LA elementary school students

LOS ANGELES - An Oklahoma man who grew up in Los Angeles was arrested and charged Wednesday with calling in bomb threats to five separate LA-area schools, and even threatening to shoot elementary school children as they left school.

Marcus James Buchanan, 44, of Blackwell Oklahoma, is expected to make his first appearance in federal court Wednesday. He's been charged with one count of making a threat through interstate commerce to damage or destroy buildings by fire and explosives. 

According to officials, the initial threats happened over the span of just two hours back on Feb. 28 of this year. Buchanan allegedly called in bomb threats to two elementary schools, two middle schools, and a high school in Los Angeles. In a call to one of the elementary schools, Buchanan allegedly threatened to shoot the children as they exited the building.

A few months later, on April 27 and 28, officials say Buchanan called two of the schools he called back on Feb. 28, renewing threats his previous shooting and bomb threats.

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"There is a bomb at your school and we will shoot the kids when they get out of the school. That is what you get for not accepting me in ’86," Buchanan allegedly told one elementary school staff member on April 27, according to the affidavit. The school was placed on lockdown, but no explosives were found.  Authorities say Buchanan called the same school again on April 28, and yet again the school was locked down but no explosives were found. 

Also on April 28, Buchanan allegedly called a different elementary school, saying, "Stop playing games you know who this is. I am going to shoot the school. I know the kids are there."

That school was then placed on lockdown, but once again, the threat was not found to be credible. 

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Following an FBI investigation, phone records traced the threatening calls to a number associated with Buchanan. His arrest comes just one day after Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana canceled classes for the remainder of the week, after what school officials called a "credible threat."

If convicted, Buchanan faces up to 10 years in prison.