Taiwanese exchange student arrested in US ‘after threatening to shoot up his high school’

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An Tso Sun, a Taiwanese exchange student charged with making terroristic threats, in a photo provided by the police department in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. Sun was arrested after police said he threatened a shooting at his school, Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast Catholic High School. Sun is in custody in Delaware County Prison in lieu of US$100,000 bail. Photo: Upper Darby Police Department via AP

Published: 4:10am, 29 Mar 2018Updated: 7:08pm, 29 Mar 2018

A Taiwanese exchange student accused of threatening a shooting at his US high school had ammunition in the home where he was staying and had researched how to buy weapons, police said on Wednesday.

The 18-year-old student, An Tso Sun, threatened to “shoot up” the Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast High School on May 1, police from Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, said. Sun later said he was joking but was charged with making terroristic threats, police said.

“Kudos to the person who stepped forward and helped to avert a tragedy,” the police department said in a tweet.

Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood of Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, displays in a March 28, 2018, press conference items he says police retrieved from the bedroom of exchange student An Tso Sun. Photo: WPVI via ABC News

Sun allegedly told a fellow student “not come to school on May 1” because he “was going to shoot up the school," Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said Wednesday at a news conference. Sun then purportedly told the classmate he was “kidding,” Chitwood said.

A military-style ballistic vest, ammunition clip pouches, a high-powered crossbow and live ammunition were found in Sun’s bedroom in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania.