Naperville police are investigating threatening voicemails left at multiple Naperville District 203 schools Tuesday night, according to an email sent out by District 203 Superintendent Dan Bridges.
The voicemails contained “threats of explosives being placed at the school and the threats of guns or shooting,” Naperville police Cmdr. Rick Krakow told the Naperville Sun. The threats were deemed to be noncredible.
Ten schools in Naperville received the same message between 8 and 10 p.m. Tuesday, but only seven of them — Beebe, Naper, Prairie and Meadow Glens elementary schools, Naperville North High School, Brightmont Academy and the school at Bethany Lutheran Church — are in the Naperville police jurisdiction, Krakow said.
The three others, Southeast Alternative School, Steeple Run Elementary School and Kennedy Junior High School, are either in DuPage County or Lisle, he said.
“These messages were left in the main office voicemails and are part of a concerning regional trend involving identical recordings sent to various school districts over the last several days,” Bridges said in the email sent to District 203 families.
They were received a week after Naperville North High School went on a soft lockdown due to a reported shooting threat.
Krakow said there is no known connection between last week’s threat and the messages received Tuesday.
“The only connection that we would have right now is that they’re all threats to schools (and) that there’s no evidence of them being credible,” Krakow said. “But as far as any links of a person or a group to each school as being the offenders, it’s too early in the investigation to say.”
In his email, Bridges emphasized that Tuesday’s threats were “unacceptable.”
More Top Picks Adhd And Emotional Dysregulation In Children
“It is profoundly disappointing that individuals would choose to target educational institutions with the intent to create fear and disrupt the learning environment,” he wrote.
“These actions waste critical emergency resources, cause unnecessary anxiety for our families and disrespect the sanctuary of our schools. We take every threat seriously, and we will support the authorities in their efforts to hold those responsible accountable.”