Middle school student faces assault, gun charges after school threat in Chicago's north suburbs
MUNDELEIN, Ill. (CBS) -- Lake County Sheriff's deputies said Friday that they may have stopped a school shooting—seizing two weapons and filing charges against a middle school student for making threats against classmates.
The threat involved Fremont Middle School in unincorporated Mundelein. At the school, the kids are taught "see something, say something"—and the system worked as planned.
Authorities say a student at the school threatened some classmates, the classmates told their parents, parents alerted the school, and then school leaders called investigators.
This started Wednesday on a school bus after class. Authorities say the student—whose gender, age and grade are not being released—threatened some fellow classmates.
While investigating, deputies found out that same student called another kid on FaceTime, showing a gun Wednesday night.
Deputies went to the student's house that night and found the shotgun from the video call—and on Thursday, they found another gun, and ammunition, inside a safe while carrying out a Firearm Restraining Order.
Administrators let families know about the threat Wednesday night, telling them, "The student in question will not be returning to school" during this investigation.
"Would that student have brought those following day? Something we don't know—something we don't know," said Lake County Sheriff's office public information officer Christopher Covelli. "We want to take that out of the equation, take that out of the situation."
The student faces charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and aggravated assault.
The sheriff's office said adults in the home did have Firearm Owners Identification cards, but could face charges for allowing the child access to a firearm.
