No new leads in bullet mystery at St. Charles North

A night of federal law enforcement dogs sniffing through the halls of St. Charles North High School followed by a day of opening backpacks that warranted further inspection failed to reveal how a live round of ammunition made its way into the school Thursday.

School officials said Friday was mostly business as usual for students and staff. On Thursday, the building was evacuated when the unspent bullet was discovered. Airport-style wands were used to scan about 2,000 backpacks students were told to leave behind. The scans singled out about 30 backpacks containing enough metal that staff members spent the morning opening some of them in the presence of the students who owned them. About 20 backpacks remain unclaimed as the owners did not show up for school Friday. Those backpacks will remain stored in the school over the weekend until they are eventually opened when their owners return.

Superintendent Don Schlomann said he believes most, if not all, of the students who own the unsearched backpacks missed school because of an illness or other excused absence. Schlomann said staff members will continue to monitor Facebook and talk to students in hope of producing some leads for police to follow up.

“I’d like to be able to tell you we found out where the bullet came from, but we haven’t figured it out so far,” Schlomann said. “In the meantime, it was a pretty quiet day at the school.”

Anyone with information that might assist the investigation can contact St. Charles Police at (630) 377-4435.