Hinsdale South student's Snapchat threat leads to weapons charges

FOX 32 NEWS - A threat posted on social media by a student at Hinsdale South High School led police to an arsenal stashed in his home.

“Several handguns, there was a gas mask, there were knives, brass knuckles, ammunition,” said Commander Gerry Piccoli with the Darien police department.

And that's only some of what police found inside the home of the 16-year-old Darien boy. The arsenal also included materials for pipe bombs, including black powder, razor blades and ball bearings, as well as Nazi memorabilia.

It was all inside his upstairs bedroom, and discovered during a search Monday night.

“How does a kid our age get all of that?” wondered Christian King, a senior at Hinsdale South.

It was a question on the minds of many students after learning that a junior at the school had sent a threat on Snapchat Monday night that he was going to shoot up the school and cause what he called, "Southacaust"

“When I heard about this that it was my school, I am thinking about I have a whole bunch of friends here, I don't want anything to happen to all of my friends and all that stuff,” King said.

A fellow student saw the post and told his parents who immediately called police. The superintendent praised those who came forward and didn't treat the threat as just a joke.

“I know it sounds trite, when you hear something, say something, but as this case shows it was extremely important, students knew about something and they said something to the parents and the parents said something,” said Bruce Law, Superintendent Hinsdale School District 86.

The student's grandmother who lives in the home told FOX 32 News that she and the boy's mother had no idea what he had in his bedroom, but she added that some of the arsenal belonged to his older brothers who dropped out of school and moved out of state.

The threat was the talk of the school.

“Today in 10th period we were talking about the kid got arrested and he had means of hurting people and it just really scares me like right now, I'm really freaked out,” said sophomore Alyssa Pavlick.

The boy, who is not being identified because he is a juvenile, is charged with six felony weapons counts. He was ordered held in the Kane County Juvenile Detention Center.