Police: Elgin High School student lied about having gun

After four hours of searching for a gun a student claimed he brought to Elgin High School, authorities sounded the "all clear" about 1:30 p.m. Friday.

No gun was found. And the student admitted making up the story, police said.

"We searched the entire school and all the grounds to make sure," Elgin Police Cmdr. Colin Fleury said.

Police were called to the school about 9:30 a.m., and students were confined to their classrooms while officers and K-9 unit bomb- and gunpowder-sniffing dogs from area agencies scoured the premises.

The student who made the claim was taken into police custody immediately. He was not armed and nobody was hurt, Fleury said.

When questioned by police, they said, the student told officers he had hidden a gun "and officials would never find it," said John Heiderscheidt, Elgin Area School District U-46 safety coordinator.

"That's what caused the more extensive search throughout the entire building, every classroom, every student's book bag," Heiderscheidt said. "We did locate also the backpack the student had in his possession at the time he made the statement. We did not locate any weapon or any evidence of a weapon."

After the search was over, the student denied ever bringing a gun to school.

"He was not telling the truth (initially)," Fleury said.

Fleury said the student, who is under 17 years old, is being charged as a juvenile with disorderly conduct.

"If found guilty by a judge, part of the sentence for this can be that (he has) to reimburse all the departments that were involved for the efforts," Fleury said.

With seven K-9 bomb-sniffing dogs - from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Transportation Security Administration, Metra, Kane County and U.S. Marshals - and an unknown number of police officers involved in the search, the cost likely would be in the thousands of dollars, Fleury added.

"It's not going to be cheap," Fleury said. "It's up to the juvenile courts and depends on his record. That will kind of shape what his punishment would be. We will absolutely plead our case as to just how much manpower this took up, and what a burden it was for the students to be kept in the classrooms while we were doing the search."

Heiderscheidt said the student could face a range of penalties per the district's student code of conduct, including out-of-school or in-school suspension, or expulsion.

"This absolutely disrupted the educational environment at Elgin High School," Heiderscheidt said.

He commended how the building staff handled the situation.

"The kids that were held in their classrooms and the staff that were supervising those students did an absolutely amazing job of being patient and cooperative and making the best of the situation," he said. "Every student was fed, although lunch was delayed, and students were given supervised bathroom breaks."

All the while, the district updated parents on what was happening through its ConnectED service, he added.