Prairie Grove school locked down for 30 minutes

A school in Prairie Grove was on lockdown for about a half-hour Friday afternoon after authorities got word that threats had been made against a student there.

“At 3:05 p.m. the Prairie Grove police received notice that a bank robber was shot in Walworth County, Wisconsin and threats had been made against his daughter who is a student at our school,” according to a message from Superintendent Lynette Zimmer on the Prairie Grove Consolidated School District 46 website.

The school campus, which has both an elementary and junior high school at 3223 Route 176, went into lockdown at 3:09 p.m., before receiving the all-clear from police at 3:35 p.m., Zimmer said.

Prairie Grove police officer Jim Page said Walworth County authorities “were concerned because of statements” made by the bank robbery suspect.

The child was taken into protective custody, he said.

Prairie Grove police and McHenry County sheriff’s deputies were at the school “to be sure everything was safe for students to be released,” Zimmer said.

Police said there was no danger to students or faculty and no unauthorized persons entered the schools grounds.

Earlier Friday, Zimmer said students practiced a lockdown drill to prepare for such situations.

WITI-TV in Milwaukee reported Friday that the bank robbery suspect was shot by a Walworth County sheriff’s deputy near Mukwonago after authorities say he drove his vehicle directly at the officer. It followed a 12-minute police chase in and out of Walworth and Waukesha counties.

The armed robbery occurred just after 2 p.m. at the People’s Bank, just north of Elkhorn, WITI reported.

The suspect was taken to a hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries.