Oshkosh police arrest 3 teens in school threats
Oshkosh police arrested three teens Thursday in connection to two threats in the past two days against Oshkosh North and West high schools.
Oshkosh police arrest 3 teens in school threats Oshkosh police arrested three teens Thursday in connection to two threats in the past two days against Oshkosh North and West high schools. Check out this story on fdlreporter.com: http://oshko.sh/2jzHsF9
Noell Dickmann, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin Published 7:34 a.m. CT Jan. 12, 2017 | Updated 5:17 p.m. CT Jan. 12, 2017
An Oshkosh Police Department squad vehicle sits outside Oshkosh North High School shortly before 8 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017. Both of the city's public high schools were closed Thursday due to a threatening 911 call to the Waupaca County Sheriff's Office, which was the second in just as many days.(Photo: Joe Sienkiewicz/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)Buy Photo
Correction: This story has been changed to correctly identify the Waupaca Police Department as the agency conducting a joint investigation with Oshkosh police.
OSHKOSH - Police arrested three male teens Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation into two threats in two days against Oshkosh North and West high schools.
The Oshkosh Police Department arrested an 18-year-old, a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old on suspicion of making terrorist threats, which forced officials to close the schools, according to Oshkosh police. The two older teens are from Oshkosh, and the 15-year-old is a runaway from Neenah.
At least one of the teens is a student enrolled in the Oshkosh Area School District, Superintendent Stan Mack II said. The threat on Thursday caused the district to enact an emergency response plan.
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The Waupaca County Sheriff's Office received a 911 call about 8 p.m. Tuesday in which the caller threatened the Oshkosh high schools. Police tracked the call to a location in the city of Waupaca, but there were no signs of anyone in the area, said Lt. Geoff Johnson of the Waupaca Police Department. The agency is jointly investigating both calls with Oshkosh police.
Authorities determined the first threat was not credible, and school continued Wednesday as normal. Neither police nor school officials have disclosed specifics about what threats the caller or callers made.
Waupaca County received a second 911 call about 9:15 p.m. Wednesday in which the caller made similar threats, Johnson said.
Dispatchers were able to trace the second call to a residential area in Waupaca, within three blocks of where the first call was made, and sent officers to check the area, Johnson said. They found a cellphone in a snow bank and footsteps leading to a nearby home.
Police tried to contact the people who lived there, but no one answered the door, Johnson said.
Each phone call came from a deactivated cellphone, but Johnson could not confirm if the calls came from the same phone.
Stan Mack II (Photo: Joe Sienkiewicz/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)
Waupaca authorities notified Oshkosh police, who then contacted the Oshkosh Area School District about 6 a.m. Thursday, Mack said. He then decided to close both high schools, based on the advice of Oshkosh police.
The School District then notified parents by email and phone about 7 a.m., Mack said. At least 15,000 people received messages within a 14-minute period.
Students at middle and elementary schools held recess indoors as a precaution, according to the email to parents. Both high schools reopened at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, and all after-school activities continued as normal.
Noell Dickmann: 920-426-6658 or ndickmann@thenorthwestern.com; on Twitter: @ONW_Noell.
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