A judge said “words have consequences” before he denied a bond reduction for a Grayslake man accused of threatening to shoot up a school, shoot a family with an assault rifle and dismember a girl’s body.
Michael Y. Drees, 18, of Grayslake, is facing two counts of felony disorderly conduct.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Dino Katris said Drees is enrolled as a student at a behavioral school in Arlington Heights.
Drees recently contacted a former classmate, Katris said during a bond hearing last week.
Grayslake police said in a statement the classmate attends Grayslake Central High School.
Drees allegedly made obscene remarks to the victim, who is a juvenile, through Snapchat message.
Katris said Drees continued making violent threats, such as “I’m going to come to your school and shoot you” and “I’m going to kill your whole family.”
Drees then sent a message that said, “Be ready to die tmr” and “Going to ship you and yo girlfriend’s body parts after we shoot up the school,” according to Katris.
Katris said that Drees sent a message that he was going to sexually assault the boy’s mother.
Drees then began messaging the boy’s girlfriend and told her he is going to kill her and her family, Katris said.
Drees also allegedly said he was going to “pull up on you and your family with an assault rifle and shoot the f–k out of you both,” apparently referring to the girl and her boyfriend.
Katris said that Drees also made reference to dismembering the victim and sending the parts to the victim’s family.
The Grayslake Police Department was notified about the threats around 9:45 p.m. Tuesday and detectives began investigating.
Officers located Drees in the early morning hours on Wednesday and found a significant amount of cannabis in plain view and Xanax pills that Drees admitted he did not have a prescription for.
Katris asked the court to impose a $1 million bond and said “every red flag is present [here].”
“Due to the rapid identification, interview and arrest of the suspect, the student population or general population of Grayslake were never put in harm’s way,” Grayslake police said in their statement.
Lake County Judge Theodore Potkonjak ordered Drees held on a $3 million bond during an initial hearing last week. “This is as disturbing of stuff [as] I’ve heard in a long time.”
Lake County Assistant Public Defender Gavin Robinson gave arguments in court Wednesday to reduce Drees’ bond.
Potkonjak denied the bond reduction request after saying, “Well, words have consequences.”
Drees would need to post $300,000 cash in order to be released. His public defender previously said he would likely not be able to post bond.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 29.