A former Latitude High School student is being held without bail in Alameda County after prosecutors say he made a video threatening a school official at the Fruitvale charter campus, complete with what appeared to be an assault-style rifle and high-capacity magazines. Mercury Hayes, 18, was arrested Wednesday in Oakland and is scheduled to appear in court Friday.
Hayes faces a felony charge tied to threats investigators say began surfacing on August 9, just one day before Oakland Unified School District students headed back for the first day of the fall semester, according to KRON4. Santa Rita Jail inmate records confirm Hayes’s arrest on Wednesday, and he remains in custody without bail. His court appearance is set for Friday at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Oakland.
According to the outlet’s report, OUSD officials alerted the Oakland Police Department after learning of the threats, setting off a rapid investigation that led to Hayes’s arrest just days after the semester began. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office wrote that the investigation uncovered messages containing direct threats against a school official, and prosecutors allege Hayes created a video showing what appeared to be an assault-style rifle equipped with high-capacity magazines.
Threats Allegedly Targeted a School Official and Possibly Students
Hayes is accused of directing the threatening video at a school official, with prosecutors suggesting the threats may have also extended to Latitude High School students. Latitude High is a public charter school located at 1045 Derby Avenue in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood, and Hayes is a former student there…