Police pursuing charges against student who threatened Wheeling High School

Authorities are pursuing charges against a 16-year-old boy accused of making threats on social media against Wheeling High School, police said.

Investigators do not consider the threats made by the sophomore student at the high school to be credible. Still, Wheeling police have a "very increased presence" at the school today in response to the threats made on Snapchat, Deputy Chief Todd Wolff said.

"That's based on recent events and to ease everyone's mind," Wolff said.

Students and parents alerted police and Northwest Suburban High School District 214 of the social media posts Monday night, Wolff said. Police located the student and determined there was no credible threat, Wolff said.

"There will be charges most likely," Wolff said.

Principal Jerry Cook, in an email to parents, said the school will continue previously scheduled testing and release at 1:35 p.m.

"I would like to commend the numerous students who saw this message on social media and immediately reported it," Cook wrote in the letter.

"We encourage our students to 'say something when they see something,' and this is exactly what they did in this instance."