A south suburban teen has been charged with making online threats of gun violence to several Chicago public schools, including Simeon Career Academy High School, which lost two students to shootings this week.
Jordan Hassell, 18, faces a misdemeanor count of electronic harassment, according to Chicago police. Hassell, of Lansing, was expected to appear in court later Friday.
Police on Thursday said he was arrested after reposting an old social media threat from another state and then continuing to post threats to Chicago Public Schools.
He was on electronic monitoring for making similar threats to schools in a nearby city, police said.
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“It’s really tragic that … after Chicago has experienced these two tragic deaths of young people at Simeon that someone would now start posting on social media threats to stir further fears in parents,” Police Supt. David Brown said in a news conference Thursday evening.
Brown said the threats were not credible but were still being taken “very seriously.”
