Two 13-year-old Round Lake boys are in custody after police say they sent threatening messages to other Fremont Middle School students. Detectives then found one of the boys to be in possession of ammunition.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office began an investigation on Sunday after a 13-year-old Round Lake boy, who is a Fremont Middle School student, sent Snapchat messages to other students referencing the Columbine school shooting, Sgt. Christopher Covelli said.
“Who would go all out Colombine on FMS. Hmu with names. Posting later 2day,” one of the messages obtained by Lake and McHenry County Scanner read. Other messages sent included names of students at the school, according to a source.
Detectives were able to identify the boy and went to his home where they spoke with him and the parents. The boy told police that the messages were sent as a “joke.” However, detectives found him to be in possession of ammunition, Covelli said.
Detectives learned that a year ago the boy stole a gun from a family member and then threw it into a body of water. The gun was recovered shortly after that by the family member who it was stolen from. However, the family member did not report it to the police at the time.
Covelli said that a second 13-year-old Round Lake boy was the one who gave the ammunition to the first juvenile. Neither of the juveniles were found to be in possession of any firearms at the time of the investigation.
The second boy did not participate in the threatening messages with the first boy, the sheriff’s office added.
Both boys have been arrested and transported to the Hulse Juvenile Detention Facility in Vernon Hills.
Police have petitioned that the first juvenile be charged with disorderly conduct, unlawful possession of ammunition and unlawful possession of a firearm, and the second juvenile be charged with unlawful possession of ammunition.
Meanwhile, some parents expressed their frustrations on social media on Monday after a large number of them said they did not receive any phone calls or emails from the school about the incident, instead learning about it on Facebook.
Some parents mentioned that other students were involved in the incident but police have not confirmed that.
“The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is working closely with administrators from Fremont School District 79 regarding this investigation,” Covelli said. There is an additional police presence at the school as a precaution.