School Threat Still a Mystery After Case Of Mistaken Identity

La Grange Police still don’t know who threatened the high school on social media two weeks ago.

The school announced the threat on Wednesday, March 9 after someone posted a message about shooting or bombing the school on the social media platform Snapchat. The high school initially banned all backpacks and bags in response to the threat. The high school is now allowing students to carry clear backpacks and bags, according to Superintendent Bill Wagner. La Grange Police Chief David Gilbreath said the case remains under investigation.

Police investigators initially questioned a student at La Grange High. Wagner said that student was later cleared of any wrongdoing. According to the student’s mother, someone else had created an account on Snapchat using photos of her son. The mother of that student, Jodie Roe, spoke to the Record this week and expressed frustration over the investigation.

Roe said her son Austin came home from work the night of Tuesday, March 8, and told her about a message he received from another student at school. She said it was a screenshot of a Snapchat group chat. She said most of the people in the group chat were freshmen at La Grange High. The chat also included someone using an account named “Kyle Thief ” who posted the threat about shooting up the school. Roe said the other kids in the group chat asked “Kyle Thief ” to identify themselves. Roe said the person using that account then posted several photos of her son Austin that were taken from his account on TikTok, a social media video sharing platform.

“Not even 30 minutes later, police showed up to our house,” Roe said.

That night Austin told police that he only knew about half of the other kids in the group chat, Roe said. She said Austin told police that he believed someone created a fake account and used photos from his TikTok account. Roe said her son denied being the person in the group chat or making the threat. Roe said police told her they would contact the other kids in the group chat.

“We didn’t hear anything until that Thursday (March 10), when the assistant principal called to say the police came to school to pick Austin up for questioning,” Roe said.

She and her husband went to the police station, but she said police would not allow them to speak with their son since he was 17 years old and considered an adult. “I was outside for two and a half hours waiting, not knowing what to do,” Roe said.

Roe said they asked police if Austin was under arrest, and the police said no. They asked if Austin could leave since he is not under arrest. Roe said police told her Austin was free to leave if he wished.

“We asked to speak with him to tell him that, and they said no,” Roe said. “We asked if we could call lawyer for him, and they said no, that Austin would have to invoke his rights because he’s an adult.

“I don’t know much about the law, just what you see on TV,” Roe added. “I couldn’t argue with them.”

She eventually called a local attorney who showed up at the police station and told investigators that Austin was his client.

“The whole mood switched when the attorney got there,” she said. Roe said police then allowed her and her husband into the room where investigators were questioning Austin. Roe said Austin gave his phone to investigators so they could send it to the FBI for analysis.

Investigators called Austin the next day to tell him he was no longer a suspect and no longer under investigation.

“We were highly upset,” Roe said. “We were frustrated. Kids were making fun of Austin at school, calling him ‘active shooter.’ I want to know who tried setting my kid up. The fact that they still haven’t found out who it was is super frustrating. The person who threatened to shoot up the school could still be there.”

Roe said Austin has since deleted his Snapchat account. She is frustrated with how the school and police handled the accusation against her son.

“It was not a good experience,” she said. “I was highly frustrated with them. I was angry. I feel like it could have been handled better than it was. They didn’t have to go to school in the middle of the day in front of everyone so people could see them taking him out. They could have waited a couple of more hours so it wasn’t a big scene.”

Wagner said he could not discuss the investigation into Roe’s son, citing the school’s confidentiality policy. He said the school is following up on other leads.