Student In Custody After False Report Of A Gun Prompts Lockdown At Joliet High School

By Stephen Gossett in News on Nov 1, 2017 3:26PM

Joliet Central High School

Joliet Central High School was placed on lockdown on Wednesday morning after an unconfirmed report of a gun in the school. The report was made falsely by a person who was subsequently placed in police custody, according to Joliet Township High School District 204.

The person in custody is a student, and police said the report was a hoax, according to WGN.

The district said at around 10:15 a.m. that the lockdown had been lifted. "At no time were students or staff in any danger. The school day will resume as normal," the district said in a statement.

The district said in an update at around 10 a.m. that the report was "unsubstantiated." The school was on lockdown at that point as a precautionary measure while police worked with the school "to secure the building and develop a plan for students to be released to classes," the district said.

A person reported seeing someone with a gun enter the school (201 E. Jefferson St), according to a since-updated statement from the district, posted shortly before 9 a.m. The statement noted that the report was unconfirmed.

Parents were told not to go to the school or contact children while authorities responded to the incident in order to keep the investigation moving smoothly while the lockdown was in place, according to reports.