Villa Park Youth Accused Of Threatening High School

VILLA PARK, IL — A student at Willowbrook High School in Villa Park threatened on social media that he would go in "shooting up the school," prosecutors said Wednesday.

The 15-year-old boy appeared at a hearing and was released to the custody of his mother. He has been charged with one count of felony disorderly conduct, police said.

On Tuesday, Villa Park police received a call from Willowbrook High School's liaison officer about the threats, according to a news release from the DuPage County State's Attorney's Office. The youth posted on Instagram, "Friday this bitch gonna sound like a party," the release said. He also wrote, "I'm shooting up the school," with an emoji of the number 100, police said.

The youth was taken into custody later that day.

In the release, State's Attorney Robert Berlin said it was the second time this week that a youth appeared in court charged with making a threat to a school. Such threats, he said, are not harmless jokes or an excuse to blow off steam.

"They have a chilling effect not just on students, teachers and staff, but also on parents, siblings and the community as a whole," Berlin said. "As I said earlier this week, and I cannot stress this enough, my office takes any threat of violence aimed at a school very seriously and anyone suspected of making such a threat will be investigated and charged accordingly."

Berlin commended students for alerting authorities to the threats.