Valencia Man Arrested on Suspicion of Blog Post Threatening Children

Guns were found in the home of a man linked to a blog post threatening to kill children

A Valencia man who was arrested Monday night -- after allegedly making comments on an ESPN website about killing children -- has been identified.

The suspect was identified as 21-year-old Eric Yee. He was arrested without incident 5 p.m. Monday on a charge of making criminal threats.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department initially described the suspect only as an Asian male, but on Tuesday afternoon released his name.

He's accused of posting comments at sports-focused ESPN blog or chat room in which he allegedly said he was "watching kids and did not mind murdering them," according to a press release from the department's Santa Clarita Valley Station.

"The blogger mentioned that it would be like the Aurora, Colorado shooting," the press release said.

Authorities said they were alerted to the suspect's alleged online post by police in Bristol, Conn.

Lt. Donn Watson of the Bristol Police Department said that the suspect has no connection to the Connecticut city. Their department was involved, Watson said, because Bristol-based ESPN had alerted police to the online post.

Bristol police then traced the post to Yee.

"The Internet service providers at one of the ESPN sites were very good and acted diligently in contacting police," Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Darren Harris said.

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Several firearms were found inside Yee's home in the 23000 block of Edenton Place, Valencia (map).

The residence overlooks Santa Clarita Elementary School and Arroyo Seco Junior High, which had stepped-up security Tuesday. Parents said they were briefed on emergency response procedures.

A search warrant was served on the home after detectives conducted surveillance of the location, the Sheriff's Department said.

Neighbors said the suspect lived in the home with his parents and was "well educated."

The Sheriff's Department said it was in contact with Yale University police "to ascertain if there are any outstanding suspects." It was not clear what relationship the student had to Yale, though neighbors said they believed he had graduated from the Ivy League institution, which is in New Haven, Conn.

The department said later Tuesday that there was no indication that there were additional suspects, or that there were additional threats or concerns to area schools.

The case was expected to be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office on Wednesday morning.

Yee was being held on $1 million bail at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.

NBC4's Antonio Castelan contributed to this story.


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