Man accused of falsely reporting active shooter at Pontoon Beach company, police say
Police have arrested one person after he allegedly made a false report of an active shooter at a business in Pontoon Beach on Tuesday.
Around 8:02 a.m., the Pontoon Beach Police Department received a 911 call from a man who told them that there was a person firing shots and attempting to kill him inside Menasha Packaging, 9 Gateway Commerce Center Drive, Police Chief Chris Modrusic said. The man was an employee at the business and is from the St. Louis area.
Pontoon Beach police called in several other agencies, including the Madison County Sheriff’s Department, Illinois State Police, Edwardsville Police Department, Glen Carbon Police Department and a SWAT team, to investigate, Modrusic said. When law enforcement entered the building and cleared it, no one was injured and there was no active shooter inside.
“We currently have the caller detained at this time for making a false police report,” said Modrusic, speaking to media in front of the building wearing protective gear. “There was no active shooter. Nobody was ever shot at. We took every precaution we could to make sure everybody out here is safe.”
Police ran the location of the caller’s phone and discovered that he had made a false police report, Modrusic said. Employees that had been evacuated as a precaution were told they could return to work as of 11 a.m.
According to Modrusic, police were interviewing the person who made the call as well as another man that is not involved. The call came from inside the building.
“We’re trying to piece together what all happened and why this guy made this call,” he said.
Modrusic said business management indicated to him that more than 200 employees were working at the time of the call.
“They actually said this was a light day for them, too,” he said.
The man’s identity has not been released.
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 11:20 AM.
.jpg)