2 students taken into custody after employee overhears talk of gun, sending Lake Zurich High School into lockdown

Two students were taken into custody after a school employee overheard them talking about a gun, prompting a lockdown that kept students in their classrooms for over two hours at Lake Zurich High School Friday afternoon.

School response and safety measures

The Lake Zurich Police Department responded around 12:23 p.m.

Friday to Lake Zurich High School, 300 Church Street in Lake Zurich, for a report of a possible student with a firearm.

Officers arrived and were told the school had been placed on lockdown, Lake Zurich Deputy Police Chief Colin Gaffney said.

Gaffney said officers went into the school and quickly found and detained the two juveniles involved.

“The teacher followed district protocols and the high school went into a lockdown and first responders were notified,” Gallt said.

School response and investigation

Officers learned through their investigation that a school employee had overheard two students speaking about a firearm and started the school’s lockdown protocol, Gaffney said.

Lake Zurich Community Unit School District 95 Superintendent Dr. Kelley Gallt said in an email to Lake Zurich High School families just before 1 p.m. that a student had reported to a teacher that “a weapon may be located on campus.”