10-year-old charged with bringing kitchen knife, threatening Lombard school

A 10-year-old boy at Lombard's Park View Elementary School has been charged with bringing a large kitchen knife to school and threatening to cause harm, authorities said Thursday.

Lombard police said they received information about a student with a knife on Tuesday and their investigation indicated the youth told another student "everyone in the school is going to die."

"The fact that a 10-year-old boy allegedly made this type of a threat is extremely disturbing," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said in a written statement. "The safety and well-being of our students as well as staff and other school personnel remains a top priority of my administration and any threat directed at our schools will be fully investigated."

The boy has been charged with one count of disorderly conduct - threat of violence at a school, a felony and two misdemeanor weapons charges. His next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 25 in front of Judge Robert Anderson.

In a note to Park View families on Wednesday, Superintendent Ted Stec said "our school remains a safe and secure environment for our students."

"During (Tuesday's) incident, our staff, with support from local police, responded appropriately and swiftly. Their actions deserve high praise as it allowed the safety of our building to remain intact.

"I also wanted you to be aware that today (Wednesday) we did meet with Lombard police to review our response to yesterday's situation. During that meeting, police expressed their strong support for our emergency plan and indicated we took all appropriate steps to quickly isolate the situation ...

" ... As a parent myself, I recognize your interest for more information about the incident is coming from a place of wanting to know your children are safe. While I am not able to share specifics due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act as well as the Illinois School Student Records Act, I can say that we have every indication from local law enforcement that this has been resolved."