Two 15-year-old students are in custody in Riverside County after the FBI and Corona police uncovered what investigators describe as a months-long plot to carry out a shooting at Corona High School — a plan that, according to police, never got as far as a date or a weapon.
The Corona Police Department announced the arrests in a press release dated October 20, 2026. One suspect is a 15-year-old student at Corona High School itself; the second is a 15-year-old student at Norco High School. Because both are minors, police have not released their names.
It began on October 6, when the FBI notified Corona police about online social media communications that pointed to a possible school threat against Corona High. Officers moved fast: a Corona High student was identified and arrested immediately after the threat surfaced, and the investigation that followed led detectives to the second teenager at Norco High.
What investigators say they found in those communications is what turned an online threat into a conspiracy case. According to the department, the pair had spent months researching school shootings and discussing how they would carry out an attack at Corona High on a future date they never settled on — including talking through ways they might get their hands on weapons.
Search warrants were executed and electronic devices were seized as detectives worked through the evidence. But for all the planning police describe, one thing was missing: no weapons were found. The two never actually obtained a gun, investigators said.
Both teenagers remain in custody on charges of conspiracy to commit murder. The case has been handed to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office, which is reviewing it and will decide how the case proceeds in court.
The FBI confirmed its role in a statement from Director Kash Patel, who said the bureau's Los Angeles Field Office identified the online communications and worked with local partners to take the two students into custody. The bureau stressed that protecting children in their schools is a priority and urged the public to report anything concerning.
Corona police said the case was built with help from the FBI, the Riverside County Sheriff's Office and the Corona-Norco Unified School District — the district that runs both Corona High and Norco High. Officials are asking students and parents to do exactly what happened here: speak up the moment something online looks like a threat, because this plot was stopped on a screen, weeks before it could become anything more.
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