Police to step up presence after another threat in Dist. 158

There will be an increased police presence at all Huntley Community School District 158 schools Friday after police discovered Thursday that a district student threatened to harm students at Marlowe Middle School in Lake in the Hills on Friday, officials said.

Superintendent John Burkey wrote a letter to district parents Thursday saying police have discovered no evidence the threat is valid, and the extra police were requested out of an abundance of caution.

Huntley Deputy Police Chief Mike Klunk said officials identified the student who threatened harm and talked to the student and their family on Thursday. Police hope to bring charges against the student soon, Klunk said.

"We don't want kids to put things out there and cause destruction and there not be consequences for that," Klunk said.

Klunk didn't give specifics about the threat, but it is the latest in a series of online threats by district students. On Oct. 19, Marlowe Middle and another school on the Reed Road campus had to be locked down after a different student posted a threatening video on social media. The video showed a school with a voice saying "They're all dead." The juvenile student accused of making those threats was charged with disorderly conduct and a hate crime and no longer attends Marlowe, Dan Armstrong, spokesman for Huntley Community School District 158, said earlier this week.

On Monday, police learned of "disparaging racial and threatening comments" made toward a student via Xbox Live, officials said.

Klunk said Huntley police discovered the most recent threat of violence while executing a search warrant on a different student who had made threats on Wednesday. Klunk said he couldn't provide more details about the suspects or the threats, because the investigation is ongoing.

Burkey asked parents to partner with the district by speaking to their children about how unacceptable it is to make these types of threats and how much harm these messages cause.

He also issued a warning.

"Any individual who makes a threat against a school in this district will face the absolute strictest school discipline and criminal consequences allowable by law," Burkey said. "The intention of the threat does not matter. We will work with law enforcement to leverage every available tool to find the individual responsible and hold them to account."

• Daily Herald staff writer Madhu Krishnamurthy contributed to this report