A second juvenile is arrested in connection with threats made against metro-east school

A 15-year-old has been charged in connection with a social media threat against Cahokia High School last week.

Law enforcement officials are not naming the juvenile or the specific charges filed due to the suspect’s age. The teen is being held at the St. Clair County Juvenile Detention Center, Cahokia Heights Police Chief Steven Brown said.

Cahokia High School was among several schools across St. Louis and the metro-east to take the extra precautions in the wake of threats of violence on Wednesday, Sept. 18.

A juvenile also was arrested in connection with similar threats that forced East St. Louis Senior High School and Mason-Clark Middle School to go under lockdown last week. East St. Louis Police, Illinois State Police and FBI have declined to say if that juvenile has been or will be charged criminally.

The threats came on the heels of a shooting that took the lives of two students and two teachers, and wounded at least 19 others at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia on Sept. 4.

No evidence was discovered to make investigators believe the threats made locally were credible, according to the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department. But law enforcement officials take all threats seriously due to the risks involved.

“Whenever the FBI gets a tip that there is a potential mass shooting or school shooting, we have to take it very seriously,” said Shannon Fontenot, Springfield Field Office assistant special agent in charge.

Last week’s investigative efforts in East St. Louis involved the presence of officers from three different agencies, K-9 officers trained to locate explosives and the work of FBI specialists to locate the threatening social media posts and find the person who originated and shared them.

“We have lots of computer experts, investigative experts — special agents that work together to identify an individual. The most important thing is to identify the individual,” Fontenot said. “A lot of people think they are anonymous by posting these threats on their social media platforms, but the FBI and our state and local partners have techniques we can use to identify who they are.

“The last thing we want is another school shooting or a threat when we could’ve prevented it.”

Among the penalties the juveniles may have to face Fontenot said, is an order to reimburse the government for the use of those law enforcement resources. How much that may be depends on how long it takes to identify the suspect, Fontenot said.

“If it takes several days for us to identify who it is, we are talking hundreds of thousands of dollars. It’s not just the FBI’s salaries, but also our state and local partners,” Fontenot said.

For law enforcement agencies and the taxpayers, it’s not just the monetary cost of investigations, it’s the wasted resources that are pulled away from other, real threats that have a more profound impact, Fontenot said.

“There is concern for all of the other individuals who are affected by the crimes while the FBI and our state and local partners are trying to figure out whether or not this threat is a hoax,” said Fontenot. “It pulls us away from our other investigations like violent crimes against children. For our state and local partners it’s homicides. For federal agencies it’s domestic terrorism or international terrorism.

“Whenever we have to chase down a hoax threat, we’re not investigating those other crimes and I think that’s a loss to our citizens more than the monetary.”

Though he would not speak specifically to the cases against the two juveniles accused in making threats in East St. Louis and Cahokia Heights, Fontenot said factors in any investigation can vary case by case.

What specific crimes a juvenile can be charged with may depend on intent – did the suspect make the threat as a prank, or did they have access to the weapons or other material required to carry out the threat? Those factors also may determine if the juvenile is charged by a local county prosecutor or if it rises to the level of a federal offense.

“It will be a determination between the federal U.S. Attorney’s office and the local state’s prosecutor on how they want to proceed with charges,” he said. “More often than not, when it is a juvenile, most states like Illinois, have state charges that are applicable to calling in false violent threats. But, the FBI is still involved in the investigation of these juvenile perpetrators.”

Parents are an important part of any investigation of a juvenile, Fontenot said. Depending on their role, a mother or father also may face charges, but that would most likely be determined by the state’s attorney.

“Most children under the age of 18 do not have access to their own weapons. It’s usually their parents’ weapon,” Fontenot said. “It depends on what type of weapon the parent likes or has purchased. Most of your mass shooters are going to have a long rifle or something as small as a pistol. But, they can inflict a lot of damage with either weapon.”

He recommends that parents “lock all of the firearms up that you have in your house. Your children should not have access to the code or access to the weapons without parental supervision,” he said.

In the meantime, Fontenot assures any juvenile or adult who is thinking about a copy-cat crime involving their own threat on social media that they will be caught and face justice.

“My message to them is you’re not anonymous. There are both state and federal charges that will be filed against you if you are found guilty. The U.S. Attorney’s office and our state prosecutors will prosecute you as well,” Fontenot said.

Curtis McCall Jr., superintendent Cahokia School District 187, thanked the law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation and the resulting arrest of the 15-year-old and asked publicly that the teen be prosecuted “to the full extent of the law.”

“Since we apprehended the person, our schools can now regain a sense of normalcy,” McCall said. “I caution all parents, students and community members to stay vigilant. We want them to keep their eyes open and ears in listening mode. When they see or hear things, we want them to report it to administrators or law enforcement.”

This story was originally published September 24, 2024 at 12:26 PM.