Pistol sighting brings lockdown at Waubonsie Valley High

Two Waubonsie Valley students were arrested Wednesday after police said they brought an air pistol to the Aurora high school and triggered a nearly five-hour lockdown of the main campus.

Two 15-year-old male sophomores were arrested and later charged Wednesday with disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, and referred to DuPage County Juvenile Court Services, according to a report from the Aurora Police Department. After being criminally charged, the students were released to their parents, reports said.

Two other students were questioned earlier Wednesday only as witnesses in the case, said Aurora police Lt. Paul Nelson.

Nelson said investigators spent the day trying to learn why the students brought the gun to the school Wednesday morning, saying he doubted the pair had intentions of "doing any serious damage to anyone."

Late Wednesday, police reports said the investigation revealed that "at no time was there any intent on behalf of the juveniles to cause injury or property damage."

The school at 2590 Ogden Ave. reopened around 12:30 p.m. The Waubonsie freshman center, which also was locked down for several hours as police searched for the weapon, reopened earlier.

The lockdown came just one day after school authorities found a threatening message scrawled on a stairwell wall that read "Bomb: 12/10."

Nelson said police still are trying to determine whether the two incidents are related.

Principal Kristine Marchiando described the air pistol, found in a locker on the school's third floor, as a "look-alike weapon."

She said the gun was never fired and no one was hurt.

"We owe a great deal of thanks to some very brave students that reported what looked like a handgun," she wrote to parents.

District spokeswoman Janet Buglio said once charges are filed district officials will meet with police and parents of the students to discuss the consequences and how they pertain to the district's zero-tolerance policy regarding weapons at school.

The incident apparently began around 7:30 a.m. when a student told school officials he saw two other students with a firearm, Nelson said.

Marchiando sent a note to parents over the school's listserv at 8:53 a.m.

"As a precaution, I have locked down the school this morning while the school administration and the police investigate a potential threat," she wrote.

At the end of Wednesday's incident, parents were allowed into the school auditorium and permitted to take their children home. Marchiando, however, said the school would resume "normal business."

"I encourage you to allow your child to remain at school," she said. "The remainder of our day will be educationally sound."

Counselors visited classrooms to talk with students and help them put the events in perspective, authorities said. No after-school or evening activities were changed.

During the lockdown, hundred of parents, including Waubonsie Valley PTA President Patricia Smith, gathered at the nearby Eola Community Center to receive updates from police. Smith said she heard about the lockdown shortly after 8 a.m. when students began texting their parents from class.

Smith said the district and police were helpful in providing information.

On Tuesday, Marchiando sent an e-mail to district parents alerting them that a "scribbled notation referencing a threat was found on a wall today at the green (main) campus."

Pistol: Discipline talk planned with students, parents