Schools in Niles, Skokie, Morton Grove locked down Thursday, but no active threats: police, officials
Elementary schools and a high school in Niles, Morton Grove and Skokie experienced lockdowns Thursday morning for different and unrelated reasons, according to police and school officials. East Maine School District 63 locked the doors after a man called government officials using threatening language, and Niles West High School experienced a technical error that caused unintended consequences. Officials said none of the schools experienced an active threat and students were never in any danger.
At Niles West High School, a series of events that happened while new audio speakers in the principal’s office and main office were being installed led to an unintentional lockdown drill, Principal Jeremy Christian explained in a message to Niles West parents.
A company installing the speakers asked to test them, but Christian asked them to wait until he completed the announcements. He entered a code and the emergency lockdown message played, he said. He made a hasty decision to go forward with an unannounced drill, but later told parents, “Using this opportunity to have an unannounced drill was not the best decision on my part. I take accountability for this action. However, it is deeply important to me that our students are in their assigned location at the appropriate time.”k
In East Maine School District 63, Gemini Middle School and Nelson School in Niles, Melzer School in Morton Grove and other district schools were locked down after the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department contacted the district’s superintendent to alert him that a man had called the DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office and left several voicemails that Sullivan described as threatening in nature, including railing against schools in general.
DeKalb County Sheriff’s police were able to track the man through a wifi connection to a location about a mile from a school in Niles, Sullivan said, and then they called District 63 to alert officials there. Sullivan indicated there was no active threat; the move was a precaution.
Sullivan said the caller made contact using a wifi service. “I think he goes to the library that he lives around to make those calls, and that’s how we found out,” he said.
Sullivan said Cook County Sheriff’s Police detained the suspect and took him to DeKalb County. The charges against the suspect are pending and being reviewed by the DeKalb County State’s Attorney, according to Sullivan.
East Maine School District 63 Director of Communications Janet Spector Bishop said that because the school had received limited information, all of the schools in the district went into a suspended schedule. “Recess was held indoors, and no one was permitted to leave or enter the school for safety purposes,” during the suspended schedule, Spector Bishop said.
Niles District 71 Superintendent John Kosirog said the district’s sole school, Culver School, did not go into a lockdown. Niles Police Sergeant Dan Borkowski told Pioneer Press no incidents occurred at any schools in Niles.
