California teens arrested for social media threat to black student

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Two northern California teens have been arrested and accused of a hate crime after sending a threatening video that showed a noose and gun to a black high school classmate by social media, authorities said on Tuesday.

The two 16-year-old suspects, who were not identified, were booked into Stanislaus County Juvenile Hall on Monday on suspicion of making terrorist threats, committing a hate crime and criminal conspiracy, the Modesto Police Department said in a statement.

"[The video] had overtones of being racially related that resulted in the hate crime charge," Modesto police captain Brian Findlen said.

One of the suspects, who is white, can be seen in the video with a noose around his neck as he references the victim and a gun is fired, according to police.

The suspects and the victim are all students at Central Catholic High School, a private school some 85 miles east of San Francisco.

School spokeswoman Missy Lucas said the two suspects had been suspended until the school's discipline review board makes a determination on their cases.

Lucas said the school, which is 5 percent African American and 40 percent white, had not seen any similar events or threats at the school in recent years.

A supervisor at the juvenile facility said on Tuesday that she could not release any details on the suspects.

Police said they began investigating the video after it was reported to the department last Tuesday. Findlen declined to provide additional details on the case, citing the ongoing investigation.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)