Sub: Former Walworth man made suicidal comments in jail two months ago
By Vicky Wedig
Editor
Information that “went viral” last week about a Walworth County man threatening to kill school children and himself is two months old and inaccurate, according to officials.
Walworth County Sheriff’s Capt. Scott McClory said information circulated anonymously on fliers and on Facebook contending that Colton Kayson Syverson, 25, made comments while in jail about “wanting to kill children” is false. His comment was about killing himself in front of children and seeing if some of the children would commit suicide with him. McClory said Syverson also did not mention committing the act at a school.
“He did not say he was going to kill schoolchildren,” McClory said.
Syverson’s comments were reported to the county Department of Health and Human Services. HHS staff evaluated Syverson at the jail.
“They deemed those threats to not be credible,” McClory said.
Syverson reportedly made the comments in June or July while incarcerated in the Walworth Jail.
However, when the anonymous flier appeared Sept. 26, it quickly went viral and generated considerable media attention and parental concern. There were some reports of parents keeping children home from school for fear that a school attack was imminent.
Much of the consternation was centered in Delavan – where the flier appeared at a school bus terminal – but concern popped up at several district throughout the area.
“Bus companies and everybody else decided to take it as it just happened,” Delavan Police Chief Tim O’Neill said. “It’s an overreaction from the social media that took something and reprinted it that was quite old.”
The flier that was posted at the bus terminal and eventually on Facebook was not generated from a police department. It was dated Sept. 17 and showed Syverson’s picture and the following information under the caption “Safety bulletin:”
“The subject pictured below lives in Walworth County, Wisconsin, and was recently released from jail. While confined, Colton made statements to jail staff of an interest in wanting to kill children and himself at a school as a way for people to remember him. If Colton is observed in and around your facility, please use caution and contact your local police department immediately if necessary.”
Delavan Assistant Police Chief James Hansen said police do not know who created the flier but suspect that it “went viral” from an employee at Dousman Transport, which serves the Delavan-Darien School District.
“This got started with Facebook and went from there,” he said. “This was never a City of Delavan issue.”
Hansen said Syverson made no threats to any specific schools and has no connection with Delavan.
Nevertheless, Delavan police met with principals in all Delavan-Darien schools to discuss the matter Sept. 26. Hansen said the level of concern is not as high as if the comments had been made recently.
“But being proactive, we made sure everybody knew that it existed,” O’Neill said.
Hansen said the department received several calls about the flier Thursday and a couple Friday morning.
“We’re going about our day and we’re checking our buildings like we normally do,” he said. “We’re communicating with schools as usual, (and telling them) if they need anything to give us a call.”
Insults to police
Syverson pleaded guilty Oct. 10 of last year to three misdemeanor charges – resisting or obstructing an officer and two counts of making threatening or obscene computer messages. He received stayed sentences of 90 days in county jail with work-release privileges and two years’ probation on each count. Conditions of his probation include having no contact with the victim or Fontana Beach and its lifeguards. Syverson was incarcerated at the Walworth County Jail from January to August.
According to the criminal complaint in the case:
On June 29, 2012, a Fontana Beach lifeguard who is related to a Village of Walworth police officer was asked to remove Syverson from the beach after he was using profanity and being rude to people on the beach. After that incident, threatening and indecent messages about the lifeguard and the police officer began to appear on Facebook, and police believed Syverson was responsible for them.
According to the complaint, Syverson created a Facebook page called “F— Walworth Pigs” that contained messages directed at Walworth police officers and the lifeguard. Facebook messages on June 29, 2012, referred to the lifeguard as a “stupid (expletive)” and directed people to the “F— Walworth Pigs” page with the goal of “making life as hard as possible for lifeguards at Fontana Beach.”
On June 29, 2012, lewd messages specific to the officer and the lifeguard were posted. The same person posted lewd, profane and threatening messages regarding other specific Walworth police officers.
On July 2, 2012, messages were posted that ridiculed Walworth Police Chief Chris Severt and his family using lewd and profane language.
On July 2, 2012, Officer Jesse Smith tried to make contact with Syverson at his Howard Street address but was not successful. After the attempt, a message was posted on the Facebook page that said, “Knock knock. Who’s there? Fat (expletive) with guns.” Another officer made contact with Syverson later that day, and Syverson claimed his Facebook account was hacked but couldn’t explain the profane reference to Smith’s attempt to contact him early in the day.
On July 6, 2012, Syverson told police he had been at Fontana Beach about a week earlier and had been asked to leave. He said he was upset and created the “F— Walworth Pigs” Facebook page and admitted posting comments about the lifeguard and officers.
Walworth police said Syverson moved from his Howard Street address before he was incarcerated and now lives in the Town of Lyons.
School’s response
After fielding questions about the flier from parents Thursday, the Delavan-Darien School District used its own social media to post a link to responses from Delavan police and the Walworth County Sheriff’s Department.
“We did have parents who were concerned about it who had seen what was going around on Facebook,” said Mike Heine, director of school and community relations for the district.
Heine said about a dozen parents asked that their kids be released early or kept inside during recess Thursday.
The district posted its own response on its Facebook page and used its all-call system to notify parents of the situation and sent an email and a letter home, Heine said. In the notices, the district informed parents that a message was going around on Facebook warning of an individual who made alleged threats but police believed the threats were not credible.
Heine said the situation “went viral” countywide and into Waukesha County and some people believed the threats were specific to Delavan-Darien schools.
“The alleged threats that were made were not specific,” he said.
Heine said the perception that threats were made specifically to Delavan-Darien schools likely stemmed from WISN Channel 12’s coverage of the incident. Heine granted the outlet an interview and allowed cameras to shoot footage on school grounds but requested the shots be general. He said one shot was wide enough that local people recognized the building as Phoenix Middle School and believed the threats were specific.
Heine said Delavan police stepped up their patrol of Delavan-Darien schools and grounds on Thursday and Friday.
