A team of social workers is available to students and staff at a north suburban high school Thursday after a school employee killed himself in the school Wednesday evening.
Skokie police responded to Niles West High School about 5:30 p.m. after employees found a man dead in a second-floor "mechanical room” near the girls’ gymnasium, Skokie police Cmdr. Michael Ruth said.
The man apparently hanged himself in the room, a Cook County Medical Examiner's Office spokesman said.
The man was a maintenance mechanic at the school and the husband of another school employee, according to a statement issued Thursday morning by Principal Kaine Osburn.
“Based on physical evidence at the scene, [the death] occurred anytime between 3 and 5:30 [p.m.],” Ruth said. There was no suicide note found at the scene, and police were talking to family members and looking into the man's background Wednesday night.
“Because of the location, we closed down the gym and activities continued without interruption,” Ruth said Wednesday night.
There were students in the building participating in after-school activities when the man's body was found, Ruth said. The area where he was found was not accessible to students or the public, the statement said. No students or community members came in contact with the man after his death.
The social work team is available Thursday for students and staff who feel they need the support.
There was no evidence that the man was involved in any wrongdoing or improper behavior, Ruth said.
An autopsy is scheduled for later Thursday.
Skokie police responded to Niles West High School about 5:30 p.m. after employees found a man dead in a second-floor "mechanical room” near the girls’ gymnasium, Skokie police Cmdr. Michael Ruth said.
The man apparently hanged himself in the room, a Cook County Medical Examiner's Office spokesman said.
The man was a maintenance mechanic at the school and the husband of another school employee, according to a statement issued Thursday morning by Principal Kaine Osburn.
“Based on physical evidence at the scene, [the death] occurred anytime between 3 and 5:30 [p.m.],” Ruth said. There was no suicide note found at the scene, and police were talking to family members and looking into the man's background Wednesday night.
“Because of the location, we closed down the gym and activities continued without interruption,” Ruth said Wednesday night.
There were students in the building participating in after-school activities when the man's body was found, Ruth said. The area where he was found was not accessible to students or the public, the statement said. No students or community members came in contact with the man after his death.
The social work team is available Thursday for students and staff who feel they need the support.
There was no evidence that the man was involved in any wrongdoing or improper behavior, Ruth said.
An autopsy is scheduled for later Thursday.
