By Tracy Ouellette
and Vicky Wedig
Staff Writers
A Delavan-Darien High School student was taken into custody Friday morning in connection with a social media threat to “shoot up” a school made in the East Troy area Thursday night.
Delavan Police Chief Tim O’Neill said his department apprehended the boy, who is a juvenile – younger than 17 years old, at the school without incident at about 8:45 a.m.
The boy is suspected of posting an anonymous comment on the social media application Yik Yak at about 9 p.m. Thursday that said, “I’m going to shoot up the school.”
Delavan-Darien schools and Our Redeemer Lutheran School were locked down while the boy was taken into custody, which took less than half an hour, O’Neill said. D-DHS was locked down for about a half hour longer than the other district schools, said Mike Heine, the district’s coordinator of school and community relations.
O’Neill said no threats were made at Delavan-Darien High School, but the Delavan Police Department is working with East Troy police to interview another student who might have been involved in the post.
Village of East Troy Police Chief Alan Boyes said more information will be available as the investigation progresses.
The Village of East Troy Police Department discovered the comment Thursday night. The post did not identify a specific school but was traced to the East Troy area, Boyes said. Police decided at about 12:30 a.m. Friday that the post was a potential threat and notified the East Troy School District.
“I really appreciate the concern of our local law enforcement and want to recognize them for the full collaboration and cooperation to ensure the safety of our students,” said School District Administrator Chris Hibner.
Hibner said he and school administrators met at 4 a.m. Friday to discuss whether to close school. They decided to keep school open but allow parents the option of keeping their kids out of school.
Letters were emailed to parents to alert them that an anonymous threat was traced to the area but not a specific school. The letter let parents know it was up to them whether or not to send their children to school Friday.
Attendance numbers were not available, but Hibner said the student count was down “significantly.”
Yik Yak, which allows anonymous posts, has been in the news for its use on college and high school campuses across the country. Burlington High School banned the app this week, and Waterford High School sent out a letter to parents yesterday informing parents of the app and how it’s used.
Hibner said East Troy has blocked the app on its Internet servers.
Check mywalworthcounty.com for updated information as it becomes available
I want to thank the police departments for their concern and doing such a great job at getting the person that is liable for this in custody very quickly. Thanks ever so much for keeping all the children safe. Hugs to all of you.
Parents were not notified until AFTER they got the suspect into custody. There was NEVER an option to keep children home let alone an email alerting parents!!!
that is not true. Many parents WERE notified around 5-6am about the incident.
I’m a parent and I was notified at 550am via phone and email.
I got the the email rather late I would of like the opportunity to leave my child at home that day. I believe if there is a threat posted we should know with in two hours of the threat .being former law enforcement and military all the commanders expect to be woken up at any time to address at potential problem
If you didn’t get the e-mail, and you are in the East Troy District, I would encourage you to have that conversation with your internet/e-mail provider. By 6:00 am I had three e-mails (one at each address on file with the District), three phone messages that we took personally, and a voicemail waiting at my office. The East Troy Community School District, and for that matter the East Troy PD and Walworth County Sheriff’s Dept., could not have performed at a higher level than they did. Kudos to them and their team members.