Police: Threat Made Against Students At Lake In The Hills School
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Police investigating racial comments made through an online gaming network have discovered new messages that threaten the student population at a middle school in northwest suburban Lake in the Hills.
The newly discovered messages were made for Friday at Henry Marlowe Middle School, 9625 Haligus Road in Lake in the Hills, according to the Huntley Police Department, which contacted the Lake in the Hills Police Department and officials from Huntley Community School District 158.
"We will continue to provide the school officials with all relevant information on the investigation to maintain the safety of the schools and students," Huntley police said in a statement.
The school district announced it would be ramping up police presence at all of its schools Friday.
"Out of an abundance of caution, as we have done in other cases where threats have come to our attention, we will have increased police presence at all Huntley 158 schools tomorrow, Friday, November 17," Huntley Community School District 158 Supt. John Burkey said in a statement posted to the district's website. "This will include uniformed officers present at Reed Road schools. We thank all of our law enforcement partners for their continued commitment to keeping our schools safe."
On Monday, officers in Huntley were made aware of "disparaging racial and threatening comments" that were sent to a juvenile over Xbox Live, Microsoft's online gaming service, police said.
After opening an investigation into the incident and conducting several interviews, officers executed a search warrant at an undisclosed location, police said. Current or former students from Lake in the Hills and District 158 could be involved in the incident.
As of Thursday evening, police had conducted multiple interviews with juveniles and parents and "various items" were seized in a second search warrant, police said.
"The location from which the messages were sent has been tentatively identified, and our investigation has revealed persons of interest ultimately responsible for sending the messages," the statement said.
No charges have been filed, police said.
"In relation to misuse of social media, let this message be clear to any individual who may even consider directing a threat at a Huntley 158 school: Any individual who makes a threat against a school in this District will face the absolute strictest school discipline and criminal consequences allowable by law," Burkey said in the statement. "The intention of the threat does not matter. We will work with law enforcement to leverage every available tool to find the individual responsible and hold them to account."
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
