Two teenagers have been arrested and face felony reckless conduct charges in connection with a bomb threat at a south suburban high school that sparked a brawl among students at rival schools.
Olympia Fields Police said a 14-year-old and 15-year-old from Country Club Hills are accused of leaving a bomb threat note Monday at Rich Central High School. The juveniles, whose names were being withheld, are students at the school, police said.
About 1,400 students from Rich Central were bused to Rich South after the bomb threat was found. Rich South students were in the auditorium when someone pulled the fire alarm and the school had to be evacuated.
"It was just like Central was coming up and then South was coming up," Rich South student Dietrick Banks said. "Everybody just brawling, going crazy. Coming at each other, people getting jumped other, all types of stuff."
"They should've left the Central kids on the bus," Dotria Banks, a Rich South parent, said.
More than 30 Cook County sheriff’s police officers were called to break up the fighting, along with officers from Matteson, Park Forest and New Lenox.
Three girls were trampled and 10 students were charged with mob action. Crystal Gholson, 17, was released Wednesday on $20,000 dollars bond. She was accused of striking a student repeatedly during the brawl.
"We've got children in the hospital who've been injured and to the best of their understanding their children were placed in that situation by District 227," Gholson's attorney, R. Haley Austin, said.
Some parents remain concerned.
"I just wanted to make sure that my child was actually safe to come back here and there wasn't going to be another riot," Banks said.
Richton Park police said four students, who are from both schools, have been charged with breach of peace, a misdemeanor, after they went to a girl’s home in Richton Park on Tuesday and tried to pick a fight. The incident was connected to Monday’s melee, police said.
The arrests bring to 16 the number of students facing criminal charges.
