Woman sentenced to 11 years for threatening to ‘shoot up’ California middle school

A 24-year-old Menifee resident has been sentenced to 11 years in prison after making several threats against a Murrieta middle school.

Julianna Ortgega was sentenced Thursday, July 10, by Riverside Superior Court Judge Judith C. Clark. She pleaded guilty May 20 to one count of felony criminal threats.

Ortgega was arrested at her home Aug. 28, 2024, on suspicion of making threats against Thompson Middle School in Murrieta.

At that time, police reported that they found no weapons at Ortgega’s home, but she was on parole for making criminal threats against a different school in the area.

Ortgega was accused of making numerous threats against Thompson Middle School by email and through social media the day before her arrest.

She threatened, in her words, to “shoot up the school” and warned of the school getting “blasted,” Murrieta police Lt. Jeremy Durrant, has said.

Ortgega has no known connection to the middle school and her motive for making the threats is unknown, said Roy Monge, director of risk management and employee benefits for the Murrieta Valley Unified School District.

The district takes such threats seriously and works closely with the Murrieta Police Department, Monge said.

The district’s risk-management plan accounts for immediate threats but also looks at impacts these threats can have on the community, Monge said.

Murrieta Valley Unified has counselors available and wants the community to know that, when incidents like this occur, the district takes action.

“Part of it is just whenever a situation happens like this we follow through and make sure that there is community trust,” he said. “… We have no control over what people are going to say or do. We can just react to it and have plans in place.”