Badger HS school shooting threat; juvenile arrested

LAKE GENEVA, Wis. - Lake Geneva police say a juvenile has been taken into custody for allegedly making a school shooting threat on Friday, Dec. 17. It came on the same day as a nationwide TikTok Challenge promoting national school violence.

Badger High School's resource officer received information about the threat shortly before 9 a.m. Friday. It indicated there was going to be a school shooting between 11 a.m. and 11:35 a.m. at Badger High School. This information was relayed to a Badger High School student via text message from an unknown phone number.

Lake Geneva detectives were able to track the phone number down to a juvenile resident in the Town of Geneva. Detectives interviewed this juvenile who admitted that the threatening text messages were sent to a friend as a "joke" – and it was only intended to scare the friend. Additionally, officials said the juvenile attempted to hide the cellphone from detectives upon their arrival at the juvenile’s home.

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The juvenile was taken into custody and turned over to Walworth County Juvenile Intake. Charges for Terrorist threats are going to be referred to the Walworth County District Attorney’s Office on the juvenile.

School officials dismissed all students by 10 a.m. on Friday after they were informed of the threat at the school. In addition, all after-school activities were canceled for Friday evening at Badger. 

All other Lake Geneva schools remained open (Lake Geneva Middle School, Star Center, Eastview, and Central-Denison) on Friday.