Guns That Prompted ETHS Lockdown Were For ‘Personal Protection’

EVANSTON, IL — Evanston Township High School administrators said they are considering installing metal detectors following last month’s three-hour lockdown triggered by the discovery of a pair of guns on campus.

Two 16-year-old boys face felony firearm possession charges in juvenile court in connection with the Dec. 17 incident, according to police. Another was charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession.

ETHS Associate Principal Taya Kinzie said the initial narrative provided by police and city officials — that a police school resource officer, or SRO, was alerted to the possibility of students smoking marijuana in a bathroom and detained the students there — turns out to have been incorrect.

“Our safety staff detected the smell of marijuana and escorted the students to the deans’ office, where the deans began the search process with safety, as is part of our typical process,” Kinzie told staff Monday. “So it’s important for you all to know that we did not send SROs to the bathrooms for the smell of marijuana. That is not our practice and that will not be our practice.”

Kinzie said the school’s crisis response worked as planned during the lockdown, but administrators would work to be more collaborative with police in the future.

Find out what’s happening in Evanston with free, real-time updates from Patch.

Let’s go!

“Many questions have also arisen,” she added. “That includes, for example, questions on metal detectors, and we are going to work with safety experts on this, and that will be researched.”

Related: 2 Guns Found, Lockdown At Evanston Township High School

Principal Marcus Campbell said the security office at the 3,600-student school is currently understaffed, and the whole district presently employs fewer people than it did before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re down nine to 10 staff members in nutrition services, we’re down four to five folks in safety, we’re down six paraprofessionals in special ed, we’re down subs,” Campbell said.

“The workforce is shifting, so it makes a lot of these positions very difficult to fill,” he added.

As part of the probe into the incident, Evanston police have found no indication that the students were planning any violence at school, administrators said.

“There is no evidence of the students bringing guns to the school to use them at the school,” Kinzie said. “We understand that the students had the weapons for personal protection based on violence in the community.”

The lockdown came less than two weeks after five people — including ETHS students — were shot in what police described as a “targeted attack” at a gas station on Green Bay Road, which left 17-year-old Niles North High School student Carl Dennison dead.

https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/9yWBPq86
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/BRw5E076
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/V6X8P1v6
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/jyPd9vZy
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/A6ezebWy
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/dl70JND6
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/dlvvJOgl
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/Gl5GbN5y
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/7lxxK1Zl
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/XRz4DJY6
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/zy47V2q6
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/PlqVqKa6
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/QlLgrw3R
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/9RV1r4vy
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/glbvPj7l
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/7R0WzxGy
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/PyJLr1wl
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/NyE5rZVy
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/D6K3r776
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/r6B1rZ1l
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/qlDvrPDy
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/9yWBPq86
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/BRw5E076
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/V6X8P1v6
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/jyPd9vZy
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/A6ezebWy
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/dl70JND6
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/dlvvJOgl
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/Gl5GbN5y
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/7lxxK1Zl
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/XRz4DJY6
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/zy47V2q6
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/PlqVqKa6
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/QlLgrw3R
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/9RV1r4vy
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/glbvPj7l
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/7R0WzxGy
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/PyJLr1wl
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/NyE5rZVy
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/D6K3r776
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/r6B1rZ1l
https://www.guilded.gg/moviestreems-Highlanders/overview/news/qlDvrPDy
https://vocus.cc/article/61df63a4fd8978000159c037
https://vocus.cc/article/61df63a6fd8978000159c03c
https://vocus.cc/article/61df63a8fd8978000159c044
https://vocus.cc/article/61df63aafd8978000159c04b
https://vocus.cc/article/61df63abfd8978000159c04d
https://vocus.cc/article/61df63acfd8978000159c052
https://vocus.cc/article/61df63affd8978000159c05c
https://vocus.cc/article/61df63b5fd8978000159c073
https://vocus.cc/article/61df63bdfd8978000159c08b
https://vocus.cc/article/61df63bafd8978000159c081

A 19-year-old Chicago resident, Leonard Galvez, has been charged with his murder and the attempted murder of the other four shooting victims. Prosecutors said Galvez confessed to driving around several street gang members looking for members of another gang