Apparent Gun Seen In Riverside Zoom Session: Police

RIVERSIDE, IL — A Riverside Brookfield High School student displayed a weapon during a Zoom class session Friday, saying, "Gotta stay strapped all the time," according to a Riverside police report. The school received complaints from other students.

Officers met with school officials and determined the student was a 16-year-old from North Riverside. The police then went to the youth's home and spoke with him and his parents and found that the weapon was one of the parents' airsoft rifles, the report said. The parents said they never gave permission for their child to take it.

Police learned that the youth made the statement "gotta stay strapped" while referring to keeping the weapon with him at all times. As such, he was charged with disorderly conduct because he was displaying the weapon and making a threatening statement while doing so, police said.

Officers confirmed it was an airsoft rifle, but it appeared real over a Zoom video, Police Chief Tom Weitzel said.

"I am confident that no student or staff at Riverside Brookfield High School was in any physical danger," Weitzel said in a statement. "Riverside Police Department takes online threats seriously and any threatening behavior will be fully investigated... These types of online disruptions during any school session or class setting are completely unacceptable and can be perceived by others as threatening, which was the case in this instance."

He said it was the first time the police department has cited someone in connection with an online Zoom classroom setting.