Police charge student over note

Niles police took the student into custody before school
began.

By TIM YOVICH

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

NILES — Niles McKinley High School students say most of the student body was calm after their school was locked down because a threatening note was found.

The school was locked down Monday morning as a precaution to the note that was traced to a freshman student.

Joe Livi, a freshman, said he was in his first class when it was announced over the public-address system of the lockdown and for students to remain in their classrooms.

“We just sat there. We did our homework,” Livi said.

He said there was no panic or fear by his classmates.

“Everybody seemed under control,” he said.

Sophomore Shaquille Cunningham said nobody got excited during the lockdown.

Some parents, he noted, did pick up their children after signing them out of school.

Schools Superintendent Rocco Adduci said the freshman student will be punished to the fullest extent of school policy, which includes expulsion.

He said Principal Michael Notar will recommend expulsion, with the superintendent making the final decision. Police have charged the boy with inducing panic.

Neither police nor school officials would release the name of the student. He is in the custody of his mother.

Adduci said the boy had been involved “in incidents in the middle school,” but nothing at the high school.

“Everything kind of fell into place. I wouldn’t have changed anything what we did this morning,” the superintendent added.

“Everything was done to make sure the students were safe,” Police Chief Bruce Simeone said.

The chief explained that a woman found a piece of paper on a sidewalk Friday night listing Notar by title rather than name. A student’s name was on the paper along with the identification of a class. It’s unclear how the class was identified. The woman turned the paper over to police.

Simeone said the paper “had some clear threats” on it, but he wouldn’t be specific.

Simeone said the student was identified through handwriting samples as police and school officials worked through the weekend.

The student was arrested at his Niles home Monday morning, and the school was locked down after students arrived shortly before 8 a.m.

Authorities wanted to make sure there was nothing obvious in the school.

“We take every threat seriously,” Adduci said. “The safety of the high school kids was never compromised.”

Simeone said the boy and his mother are cooperating with authorities, but police and school officials want to know what caused him to write the threatening note.

yovich@vindy.com