OLCHS School Shooting Threat ‘Unfounded’: Police

OAK LAWN, IL -- Rumors of a student compiling a list of people to shoot at Oak Lawn Community High School have been found to be untrue, according to police and school officials. The claims of the existence of the list and threats of violence at OLCHS took on a life of their own this past week on various social media platforms, sparking alarm among parents and students. Now, Oak Lawn police and school administrators want to put those rumors to rest.

“The Board of Education is fully committed to the safety of everyone at Oak Lawn Community High School,” D229 board president Robert Loehr said in a statement. “Upgrades to our facility, updates to our policies, and the employment of key staff members to monitor our campus at all times have created a school setting that is completely centered on the learning needs of our students in a safe and supportive environment.”

Oak Lawn police, in conjunction with OLCHS administrators, said both had thoroughly investigated the claim and found no evidence of an alleged “kill list” or any credible threats made against students.

In a timeline school officials released to news media, the rumor apparently started on Halloween, when a student reported to the school dean that she heard about a list created by another student threatening other students. School officials said the girl was following a school directive to students to always report any suspicious conduct or possible threat to the safety of students and staff.

Over a dozen students who reportedly had information about the purported “kill list” but had never personally seen it were interviewed. The student who allegedly made the threat was also interviewed by the full-time school resource officer. The threats were determined to be not credible, Oak Lawn police said in a news release..

“The student accused of making the list was investigated thoroughly. Physical and electronic searches were conducted. Oak Lawn police visited the home of this family on multiple occasions. Law enforcement officials confirmed that there were no firearms in the residence or accessible to the student. All we can prove is that the student made an inappropriate comment to a friend, and the school has taken appropriate action to address this conduct. Based on the findings of school officials and the Oak Lawn Police Department, that comment did not rise to the level of an actual threat in any way.”

The school sent out messages to parents on Friday, Nov. 2, and again on Monday, Nov. 5, updating parents on the investigation. The full-time school resource officer, OLPD Det. Pete Hennessy also reassured students that the rumors they saw circulating on social media were “baseless” and that they were safe at school.

“The deans and I investigated that incident very thoroughly and have determined the student poses no threat to our school,” Hennessy told students. “The only thing she did wrong was make a bad choice of words. I think we can all agree that we may have said something that we wish we wouldn’t have.”

The school resource officer called the accusations blowing up on neighborhood social media of OLCHS being unsafe “ridiculous.”

“There is no hit list. That student has no access to guns,” Hennessy reiterated. “I am absolutely committed to the safety of our entire Spartan community … We investigate every report of school safety that comes to the office. If you see or hear something suspicious, report it to the deans’ office instead of spreading it on social media. Let’s all do our part to stop this false rumor chain.”

The rumor was refueled on Wednesday evening, when someone who claimed to be an OLCHS student posted on Snapchat that the girl who allegedly made the list was going to “shoot the school up” on Thursday.

“[T]his is a warning to u guys im not saying it’s official. So take this with a grain of salt. Guys if u don’t feel safe don’t come to school tomorrow, repost this tell anyone u know that goes to ol or that may help this situation.”

Dist. 229 Superintendent Dr. Michael Riordan told Patch that the image of the widely shared Snapchat message seemed to have come from a single source. The Snapchat message was shared with the Oak Lawn Police Department, who concluded it to be not credible.

Riordan said that he and other school administrators were fielding calls all Thursday morning about the Snapchat threat. With the recent mass shooting tragedies in schools, churches, synagogues and workplaces, Riordan said he understood the fear that parents, students, and school staff experience on a regular basis is real. It also didn’t help matters on Thursday when news came out of the overnight mass shooting, in which a dozen people were gunned down at a bar in Thousand Oaks, CA.

“We probably spoke to 200 parents who saw the message on Snapchat and called us about the safety of their kids,” Riordan added. “We cleared the rumors with factual information. There is no hit list or threat of a shooting, but it can’t help when there’s a violent shooting like today.”