Lockport teen charged with posting threat to ‘shoot up’ Providence Catholic H.S.

A 17-year-old student from Lockport has been charged with a felony after making what police said were violent threats against Providence Catholic High School on Snapchat.

The New Lenox Police Department sent officers to the school around midday Wednesday to investigate the threat, which was originally identified by the FBI on the social media platform, according to New Lenox police.

The police department posted on its Facebook page that “one student has been removed from the school and is currently being questioned in reference to the social media threat.”

The 17-year-old had their vehicle, locker and bag searched, and nothing was found, according to Providence. The student’s family was contacted, and they left the campus, located at 1800 W. Lincoln Highway, with police.

The student has been charged with disorderly conduct, a class 4 felony, and has been transported to the River Valley Juvenile Detention Facility on Joliet.

“The FBI learned that a student had recently taken a picture of his lower body while seated at a desk, the student posted the picture along with a caption indicating that they were going to shoot up the school. The FBI immediately began investigating the threat and determined that the post was made at Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox. The FBI provided the NLPD with the Snapchat post and the name of the student suspected to have made the post. The NLPD quickly responded to the school and made contact with staff,” the New Lenox police posted on its Facebook page.

Just before 12 p.m, police posted on Facebook that “officers are on scene inside the school [and] the matter is being investigated. The school is currently on lockdown. Everyone is safe at this time. There does not appear to be a credible threat. More information will be put out as the investigation unfolds.”

However, the school said on its Facebook page that “Providence Catholic was not on lockdown at any time today, and at no point was it determined that there was a credible threat.”

New Lenox police have since clarified that the school was never officially placed on lockdown, though the department had intended to do so had the threat not been quickly located.

“In an effort to disseminate information as quickly as possible, and with such a police presence at the school, a social media post was made by us to inform the community of the situation,” the department wrote on Facebook. “To clarify now, the school was never on ‘lockdown’ as indicated in our first post. This may have been our intention based on the threat, but because the student was located so quickly, and the school was determined to be safe from the threat, the ‘lockdown’ as indicated in our post never developed.”

“Nothing is more important than the welfare of the students entrusted to our care, and we will continue to monitor our campus closely,” Providence stated in a Facebook post, before encouraging parents to reach out if they had any further questions or concerns about the situation.

According to both Providence and New Lenox Police, as of 1 p.m. there was no further safety threat, and the school was operating as normal, although police retained a presence on campus for the rest of the school day.

The police thanked the FBI, the Providence staff, and the LCC dispatchers who “brought this unfortunate situation to a very quick, safe, resolution in which thankfully no one was harmed.”