Police arrested a Sylmar man after he allegedly made false threats about a possible active shooter event at the Los Angeles County Fair, authorities said.

At approximately 2:49pm on Friday, September 13th the Pomona Police Department became aware of a threat sent via email about the Los Angeles County Fair.

The fair alerted the authorities shortly before 3 p.m. about the email that said there was going to be a mass shooting at the fair on Sunday.

Pomona police and the FBI launched an investigation and narrowed the list of suspects down to three possible suspects within hours, then tracked the email to Erik Villasenor, the department said.

Tactical teams and Pomona police officers descended on the man’s house by Friday night.

When police responded to his home, Villasenor admitted to the hoax, police said.

Villasenor, who is in his 20s, was arrested late Friday on suspicion of emailing the threat to the fair association, according to Police Lt. Marcus Perez. Pomona police learned about the threat earlier that day, he said.

“Through interviews, they were able to determine that he did send that statement to the fair, and ultimately determined it was a hoax,” Pomona Chief of Police Michael Olivieri Jr. said in a video posted online.

“He felt that it was appropriate to send this threat, and we believe that it was with the intent that it would spark some chaos and commotion, and be captured on the media, and then he could use that as an excuse to his parents to not go to the fair,” the chief said. “Kind of a crazy thing.”

Police said the email sent to the fair read, “hello, I was told that someone was planning on doing a mass shooting on Sunday at the fairground. I just wanted to inform you guys already.”

“In light of the environment, we’ve made significant investment to make sure our guests and employees are safe,” said Miguel Santana, chief executive of Fairplex, a private nonprofit that operates the fair, this year from Aug. 30-Sept. 22, at its 487-acre facility in Pomona. “We always take security seriously, but we’ve made a deliberate effort to strengthen our security system.”

Fairplex has spent $200,000 to build a command center in the fairgrounds where police, fire officials and other emergency staff can coordinate a response to an emergency, Santana said. Extra video cameras have been added to monitor the perimeter, as well as metal detectors and a badge-scanning system to screen fair employees and contractors before they enter the grounds.