Thornton Fractional South football game called off after former student overheard threatening to ‘shoot up the place’

Thornton Fractional High School District 215 is working on a safety action plan after a threat to “shoot up the place” postponed half of Friday night’s football game between Thornton Fractional North and South, Superintendent Sophia Jones-Redmond said.

She credits a student’s quick action for avoiding a potentially serious incident.

“We have a campaign on our website called ‘see something, say something,’ and that’s what happened on Friday,” Jones-Redmond said.

She said a student overheard a former student, who was not allowed into the game, threaten to “come up here and shoot up the school.”

“Due to the popularity between the Thornton North and South rivalry and a lot of people wanting to come to that game, only current students and parents were allowed,” Redmond said.

Redmond said the student who overheard the comments notified administrators, who informed the school’s senior resource officer. Lansing police recommended the game be evacuated, she said.

“This is a rare occasion, and I’m proud that there were no incidents when the game was evacuated,” Redmond said. “I’m also elated that a current student trusted us enough to inform an administrator.”

Redmond said she will meet with both principals and schools’ athletic directors this week to work out a strategy for immediate implementation, should a similar incident happen again.

Lansing police had not released the police report as of Wednesday afternoon.

Hannah Kohut is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.