Joliet Teen Arrested After Threatening to Shoot Up School: Cops

JOLIET, IL — A 15-year-old Joliet Central High School student was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly tweeted out that he was going to shoot up the school.

Joliet police received notification from both Patch and the FBI regarding the tweet. As a result, police contacted all Joliet-area school superintendents to let them know of a heightened police presence around the schools until police could find out where the tweet originated, according to Deputy Police Chief Al Roechner.

Roechner said police worked with the FBI to determine who the Twitter account belonged to.

“We found that he was in fact in school this morning,” Roechner said. “We went to the school as soon as he arrived and spoke with this individual.”

The teen told police he was at a Joliet Central High School basketball game Tuesday when some kids were making fun of him over new shoes he had purchased.

“He was kind of angry about that and that’s when he posted the tweet,” Roechner said.

Joliet School District 204 Spokesperson Kristine Schlismann said police removed the student from the school.

“The threat was found to be unsubstantiated and the safety of our students was not jeopardized at any time in relation to this incident,” Schlismann said in an email. ”Joliet Central High School followed safety and security measures while the investigation took place and worked in partnership with the Joliet Police Department.”

The teen was charged with felony disorderly conduct and taken to River Valley Juvenile Detention Center.

Joliet School District 86 was placed on a soft lockdown this morning as a result of the police investigation.

Joliet Police Chief Brian Benton said to be on the safe side police increased their presence around the schools.

Benton said he spoke with District 86 Superintendent Charles Coleman Wednesday morning so he could share the information with his principals.

“I didn’t want them overly concerned when there was an increased visible police presence around each of the schools, so I shared with him that we were following up on a social media comment overnight,” Benton said.

The threat did not appear to be credible, according to Benton.

“We’ve confirmed there’s no active threat,” he said.

Rumors about a teacher being shot at a District 86 school also were untrue, Benton said.

According to District 86 Coordinator for Communications & Development Sandra Zalewski, some schools were placed on soft lockdown at around 8 a.m. this morning after the district was alerted to a “police situation.”

“As a preventative measure, early this morning all of our schools went into lockdown,” Zalewski said. “As a safety precaution, all the students were kept inside the building. It was a soft lockdown. They resumed normal classroom activities, they just did not go outside.”

The lockdown was lifted at around 8:55 a.m. when police determined the threat did not impact the district, according to Zalewski.