Man Taken To Mental Health Facility After Mass Shooting Threat

NEW LENOX, IL — A 25-year-old Kentucky man has been taken to a mental health treatment facility after sending an email threatening a mass shooting, New Lenox Police said. At 9:30 a.m. on June 8, New Lenox Police were contacted by Silver Oaks Behavioral Hospital about a suspicious email they had received.

Police said they learned the email was sent to the hospital from an anonymous source using a Gmail account. The sender indicated that he couldn’t afford treatment at a mental institution and that he was having homicidal thoughts. He also indicated that he knew if he were to carry out a mass shooting then he would be able to receive the help that he needed.

Police began an investigation, and an employee of Silver Oaks maintained email contact with the sender. Police said the sender refused to provide his name, location or any other information that might assist in this investigation.

The detective division discovered after several hours that the sender was in Richmond, Kentucky. Police said the Richmond Kentucky Police Department was contacted and provided with the details and particular findings of the investigation.

Richmond Police officers went to the address provided by the New Lenox Police Department and made contact with the 25-year-old man who admitted to sending the emails, police said. The man told police that the only way he felt he could get proper mental health treatment was by committing a mass shooting.

Richmond Police said no weapons were recovered from the man’s home, but ammunition was found. The man told police he sent similar threats to 25 other mental health facilities and said that Silver Oaks Behavioral Hospital was the only facility to reach out to him. The man was taken to a mental health facility for evaluation and treatment.