Bakersfield College student Jermaine Turner was arrested last week on suspicion of threatening students and brandishing a weapon in the campus cafeteria.

Three felony charges have been filed by the Kern County District Attorney’s office against Turner. The charges are threatening with the intent to terrorize, participating in a criminal street gang and public offense committed on behalf of a criminal street gang.

Turner is being held at the Lerdo Pre-Trial Facility pending his next hearing at 9 a.m. on March 25 at the Kern County Superior Court Metro Division building on Truxtun Avenue.

On March 9, Public Safety officials were called to investigate a disturbance in the cafeteria involving a weapon at 9:31 a.m. and responded after requesting assistance from the Bakersfield Police Department.

According to witnesses interviewed by BPD, the student walked into the cafeteria, was heard saying “I will kill you all,” then showed what was believed to be a weapon tucked into his waist.

Detective Blaine Craig of BPD said that Turner, 19, was wearing a gray-hooded sweatshirt and a black do-rag at the time of the incident.

Although the magnitude of the threat was unknown, students who witnessed the event feared for their safety and contacted Public Safety officials who locked down strategic locations of the campus center. The lockdown did not last more than 10 minutes.

A witness was being interviewed shortly after BPD officers arrived on the scene, when she pointed out a man and said, “That’s him.” At that time, the man was thrown to the ground and detained by Public Safety officials.

BPD officers found the weapon in Turner’s locker in the BC gym. The weapon turned out to be an Airsoft BB gun that, according to Craig, could still cause injury.

“It was a replica,” he said. “But it can still hurt someone, and the students he was threatening felt it was real, and that’s all that matters.”

“We take it immediately serious,” said Amber Chiang, director of Marketing and Public Relations at BC. “We have Public Safety officers that do patrol the campus routinely, and they were here within moments.”