Las Vegas man accused of threatening mass shooting at former school: police report

Joshua Peguero
·3 min read
4

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A man faces more than a dozen charges after police said he threatened to shoot up a school in Las Vegas, according to a police report.

In court documents, Clark County School District police (CCSDPD) describe Jonathan Lee Sandoval as a former student of Cowan Academic Center and accuse him of calling staffers there 75 times over four months and leaving threatening voicemails.

According to an arrest report, Sandoval, 25, called the school last Tuesday, May 14, and told staff he was killing all of them.

However, as a result of the quick action of CCSDPD, Sandoval did get to execute that plan, police said. Instead, he was in a courtroom on Tuesday. Handcuffed, as a judge read the 18 charges he faces, including making threats or conveying false information concerning an act of terrorism.

“Five counts of ownership or possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. Those are felony offenses,” Clark County Judge Diana Sullivan said in court.

A public defender represented Sandoval for his initial appearance on Tuesday.

“I did get a disc full of calls that I think the state wants to introduce at this hearing,” the public defender said.

Court documents outline some of the voicemails Sandoval left to staffers at Cowan Academic Center, which is located near Russell and US 95.

According to an arrest report, he called on May 14, nine times over 25 minutes and made verbal threats to “Come kill you all” and said, “Don’t call me back and I’ll shoot up your school.”

The 25-year-old was an 8th-grade student at Cowan Academic Center in 2013, according to police.

Voicemails Sandoval allegedly left also included other derogatory and threatening statements, including raping staff members, according to an arrest report.

A CCSDPD investigator also said another staffer “states that the male caller, ‘would not stop rambling and started to not make sense,'” according to the arrest report.

According to police, the nature of the calls to Cowan Academic Center prompted school staff to notify officers, who arrested Sandoval the next day on May 15. When officers executed a search warrant at Sandoval’s home, police found two guns and three others that were “privately manufactured,” according to an arrest report.

Court records show Sandoval has a criminal history with guns, including a prior arrest for assault with a deadly weapon.

In his most recent case, he entered a plea of guilty but mentally ill in 2021 for attempting to carry a concealed weapon and was sentenced to a year of probation, according to court documents.

Sandoval has a court hearing scheduled for Wednesday to determine his bond.

Sandoval faces the following charges:

  • One count of making threats or conveying false information related to act of terrorism.

  • Two counts of possession of a gun with altered/removed serial number.

  • Three counts of possession, sell, transfer, purchase, transport, receive firearm without issued serial number.

  • Five counts of owning/possessing of gun by illegal alien/mentally ill person.

  • Seven counts of obscene/threatening/annoying phone call

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