(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
At about 6:00 p.m. last night, an automated message from Indian Trail and Academy Principal Scott Kennow went out to ITA parents about a student who “snapped” a threat involving a gun saying something to the effect of “I’m going to take care of business.” Kennow, in his statement stated that KUSD did not believe that there was a credible threat:
Good evening, Indian Trail families. This is Principal Kennow calling to share that today we were made aware of a threatening social media post depicting a student with a weapon. Upon learning of this, we immediately notified the Kenosha Police Department. The individual was quickly identified, detained, and full disciplinary procedures will be implemented.
While we do not believe that students and staff are in danger, Kenosha Unified takes all threats against schools, staff, and students seriously. If students are guilty of such threats, disciplinary action and criminal charges will be imposed. Please talk to your children about being mindful of what they say in school and post online. We must work together to make our learning environment a safe, welcoming place for everyone.
If you have any questions or concerns, please call us at 262-359-8700. Thank you.”
Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the 16-year-old student did, in fact have a gun in the school. The school’s SRO (School Resource Officer) patted the student down, but didn’t find the gun, that was apparently well-hidden between his scrotum and his anus.
At least one additional officer missed the gun, but finally, a Kenosha Police Officer found it. The teen is expected to be charged with several felonies including possession of a firearm on school grounds and making a terroristic threat.
KCE received many tips that KUSD put out a false or misleading statement through Principal Kennow, however, KCE can confirm that KUSD didn’t learn of the real threat until after the gun was discovered and KUSD was made aware.
According to a criminal defense attorney, this case will likely be waived into adult court because of the seriousness of the charges and the age of the suspect.
KCE is withholding the name of the student until he is formally charged.
The following is a joint statement from KUSD and Kenosha Police Chief Patrick Patton:
“We want to provide you with an important update. Yesterday, we addressed concerns about a social media post depicting a weapon. Today, we were informed that a gun was found in the student’s possession after they were detained and processed through juvenile intake. While the student did not use the weapon to threaten students or staff during the school day, it was in their possession.
Two officers conducted initial searches that did not uncover the weapon. However, a subsequent search revealed it during the student’s detention. The Kenosha Police Department is handling the matter, and appropriate charges will be filed. The district will also impose disciplinary action in line with board policy.
Upon learning of the social media post, Kenosha Unified staff acted swiftly and implemented the threat assessment process. This process included identifying the individual involved, securing their location, and collaborating with the Kenosha Police Department to ensure safety.
The Kenosha Police Department is reviewing this incident to evaluate whether the procedures used by each of the officers were performed in accordance with training standards. We are also working with Kenosha Unified to avoid future incidents like this from happening again.
We greatly appreciate your understanding and support as we continue to prioritize the safety and well-being of our schools.”
***UPDATE (12/4/2024 @ 4:48 p.m.)***
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
On Wednesday afternoon, Kenosha Police Lt. Josh Hecker release the following statement:
“On Monday, 12/02/24, around 10:30 AM the school resource officer at Indian Trail High School and Academy in Kenosha received information that a SnapChat photograph was circulating which showed a 16-year-old ITA student (10TH Grade) possessing a firearm. An investigation immediately began with the SRO and school officials. The student was quickly located and escorted to an office to be searched. The student was arrested at the school and transported to the police department. He was charged with one count of each of the following: Terrorist Threats-Public Panic or Fear; Possession of a firearm on grounds of a school; carrying a concealed weapon; and possession of dangerous weapon by minor. The student is currently detained in a juvenile detention facility awaiting the next court hearing.
The investigation later revealed that the student did in fact have a firearm concealed in a sensitive area. The manner in which the firearm was concealed made it very difficult for the initial officers to locate. The Kenosha Police Department is conducting an internal review of the incident to determine if any policy violations and/or training issues exist.”
129 Responses
Maybe Chief Patton can give the SRO who missed finding the gun some alone time with the new puppy.
That Chief hasn’t met a camera he doesn’t like. Seems like he’s all about getting himself in the news. Lots of DEI promotions and appointments too.
How do you feel about the new DEI-elect? Wait, I mean the DEI-hire DA-elect?
Your comment makes no sense. He was voted in ya idiot
You tried with that comment but just sounded stupid
Xavier Solis was a DEI candidate. Doesn’t matter if he got elected or not. He was still a DEI candidate. Shameful.
Making garbage statements while hiding behind ‘anonymous’ is pathetic!
Says “anonymous” go sick on a cheeto
You sound like a racist lib who’s angry about the outcome.
White trash will always be white trash. Grow up a bit. Maybe the minorities helping this country prosper can teach you something.
you are such a moron! Solis is the best pick for DA and NOT DEI
When you’re talking about someone with a juris doctorate, who ran against another individual in an election— and won— it’s FAR from a DEI candidate.
Also, this sort of babbling about DEI stinks of Steffany Caputo. Maybe crawl back under Sgt. Hard’s bed, you ugly troll.
Your so stupid
You’re *
Oh, the irony
Oh, I didn’t realize ‘DEI hire’ was code for (D)emocratically (E)lected (I)ndividual….by a landslide. Thanks for clarifying!
Charge the parents for not being parents.
Really!
I’ll bet there is no father in the home. Gnome sayen ?
For one thing half of this article was made up as to the letter that went out to to parents. NO WHERE IN IT, DOES IT SAY A CHILD SNAPED!
It’s pretty sad that someone’s need to feel important has to add things that are untruthful.
Besides that FACT, what is going on with parents being parents these days? How in the hell does a child get ahold of a gun and take it to school without the so called parents not knowing about it? Just CRAZY these aren’t locked up to begin with. Don’t give me the crap that the kid could’ve got the gun from anyone. Responsible Gun Owners don’t leave their guns laying around, they lock them up when not in their possession.
Come on want to be parents, so called parents, you must do a better job. I would bet that your the first ones to vote YES on these referendums giveing the schools more money also.
Us home owners are sick and tired of paying more taxes as to your inabilitys to parent your Hoodlums.
I am sure ‘snapped’ was to state the student used Snapchat and Snapped a picture of the gun or took a video.
I guess maybe we all “missed” the press release from KPD on this? How about an update? They have a full time position to do releases I thought. Pleasant Prairie PD seems to do releases whenever things the citizens would want to know about, why not KPD?
KPD usually just hasTanya Ruder do a press release for them I guess?
KPD made zero statement cuz their SRO F’d up and they hoping this story just goes away.
You wanted the officer to check the students ass?? Yeah ok
Shouldn’t a gun between the ass cheeks be “findable” with a somewhat aggressive pat down ? Not a finger poke but with a flat hand pressure pat down ?
Inquiring minds want to know
Depends on the ass. Oprah for example could hide an AR-15 between those massive cheeks.
The pat down wasn’t done correctly. Some inmates even try to make complaints against officers if the pat search IS done CORRECTLY because the search HAS to include all the crevices! It has to be that way for THIS reason. You should be able to find a razor blade or a bag of drugs if the pat down is done the right way! Did nobody learn from the incident that happened with the guy who shot and killed himself handcuffed in the back of the police car over the summer? Get these police officers trained properly! Do the pat down CORRECTLY and save some lives!
The SRO is a KPD member.
Thank you Captain obvious.
Could Tanya be any ruder? 😎
The kid was black, mass school shootings are a Caucasian and Asian crime. Be proud!
not officer hot cop, not doing his job?! gasp. I’ll save my comments on the district itself, for another day though.
Maybe add into the referendum some “no firearms allowed” signage.
I’m sure the sign will stop it next time…
WHY THE HECK should the homeowners in Kenosha have to continually be held responsible for the parents of these Hoodlums NOT KNOWING HOW TO PARENT? BS,
It’s not always the parents fault. We do not know who raised this kid.
LOL
You’d almost assume some KUSD employee would’ve found the gun when fondling the student.
Definitely Funny !
Horrible that this student had a gun. Disgusting that the officer couldn’t even perform a basic function of their job and do a proper pat down. Despicable that PSB employees are not safe at work. They have been asking for metal detectors for years and keep getting denied. What does it take, a death for change?! DO BETTER.
Chief Patton will get right on it…….
The officer will be sent to the streets. He had the chance and he failed. Welcome to the Law enforcement world.
Please, as if the School Resource Officer is going to pat down a minors scrotum and anus. Leave that to the real police, asking for a lawsuit in today’s America.
SROs are real sworn officers….
Real? Real what?
They are sworn kenosha police officers.
No
Yes. They are REAL sworn police officers. It’s a position in the dept.
They are real police. Great comment
Hahahaha “we love the uneducated”
Yea it shows, it shows
Shows how smart you are
Take it easy, the SRO has only been a Cop for 2years, he’s allowed to make an error or two
2 years and he’s already an SRO!! It used to take years of experience before you could get that job.
KPD Policy says minimum of 5 years on the job before being eligible for the SRO position. Wonder how he got the job???
And if this resulted in a death?? Would that error be acceptable?
Search everyone anus and vagina.
What if something BAD had happened would you say he’s allowed to make an error or two? Maybe a few years on 3rd shift will help them?
OK who is he related to Police or city hall?
I bet he’s black
An error that could’ve killed people? Yeah no, let’s protect our students.
So you want the police to check the kids ass? Wouldn’t that be sa?
Police are trained to do pat downs CORRECTLY. This one was FINALLY done the correct way and the gun was found. You have to check everywhere.
Speaking of SA, what’s really sad is the school district doesn’t take as swift action against it’s own teachers for SA claims and charges made against them. Teachers are allowed to “resign” and just head to another school district to get hired and do it all over again.
I feel ya.
The SRO needs to get up right in that anus.
Sgt. Hard would’ve found the gun.
That’s not a gun . 😎
That principal is horrible! He doesn’t do ANYTHING!!!!!
Please explain how this is any fault of the principal. I’ve only heard one person say anything about the parents on here. Let’s blame them for sending this misfit to school with a gun.
Yeah shame on the parent, but a Cop learned of a statement/post about a student having a gun. Student found but gun was not. We all know about shit parents but they Cop was the person who could have stopped it all. But he couldn’t because he couldn’t find a gun.
Listen to you idiots just blaming the officer. He obviously made a mistake, I’m sure you never make a mistake at your job bagging groceries or taking orders at McDonald’s. Blame the fucken parents and the kid.
I Agree , no reason to blame the cop or the Principal , who both did what they had to do. Not their fault the kid shoved a gun up his ass
A mistake bagging groceries isn’t going to potentially KILL innocent people.
Unless you bagged something the customer was allergic to. How don’t I realize that. Great! Grand!
👮♂️ My name is Ladonte Pittman, and I’m proud to serve as the SRO for Indian Trail High School.
😂
Proud of what?
thank you for your hard work
I had a sister named Ladonte. She was killed in a water buffalo stampede.
😂
Most of these kusd employees and SROs are buddies with all these idiot kids. This Kenosha county eye has had numerous teachers, SROs exposed for just that. Look at even the old counselor at Indian trail, barker was siding with fuller after he killed a girl! Quit being friends and be god damn re models!
Agree. Barker acts likes he’s still in high school with all the kids. Wants to be popular
Also Parents, Stop Being A Friend To Your Hoodlum kids, BE Parents. What the heck if you wanted a friend you so called parents you should have bought a fish, a puppy or a kitten. Parenting Requires Brains.
Quit being friends with these idiot kids and mentor them!
At least they missed the ammo that was up his butt.
Let’s all sit up here on our high horses and judge actions that we don’t even know happened or not, and what the circumstances were.
America is such a great country and getting better every day.
It’s a septic tank, can’t wait to leave in 3 years. Thailand is the place to be, not Kenosha in shit hole Wisconsin.
All the girls have wieners there don’t they?
You’re right- it’s an awesome Country that’s about to get better. Glad you took notice. 🙂
Full body cavity searches for all. Keep everyone safe
Patton is too busy going to his stupid classes or seminars for his dumb titles (which we all can see don’t mean shit because they can’t even do basic ass policing).
Dumbest comment of the year. Educated leadership is a great thing dingus
It’s called a meaningless-ass title if you are a cop and it means fucking nothing if you can’t even educate your officers on how to conduct searches.
But, hey….I’m sure they serve really good food at these seminars and training classes.
Wow…never been on here before. There sure is a plethora of weirdos to go around. A solid bunch of basement dwelling scumbags. Cheers nerds! 😂
Wow, kudos to you for discovering the site….3 years later. I’m sure you are really up on things. Dipshit.
if you leave, the basement dwelling scumbag will be gone!
two officers missed the gun….which shouldn’t easily be hidden between the scrotum and anus!!!!
The moment you claim to have a gun at school you should lose all privacy rights. Immediate cavity search. For those who think they can say those things as a “joke” FAFO. That’s how you fix the problem
So looks like KPD dropped the ball a couple times, and didn’t tell KUSD about it until the day after. Why wouldn’t Kpd do a press release last night about a student with a gun at school? Why do we have to wait for KCEYE to report, prompting KUSD to make a statement?
Kpd should have done a release 24 hours prior. So the Lieutenant who’s in charge of press releases ($125 k per year) was just “too busy” to do a release? Kpd is very poorly run, and full of many incompetent supervisors.
$125k a year allot of money to? lol
Put the BLAME where it belongs.. THE PARENTS OF THESE HOODLUM BRATS!
You all keep saying parents, be real, it is PARENT and more than likely a 350 lbs black lady sucking the government tit.
Put the uniform on then since you can do much better
Fuck that, 90% of LE are power hungry assholes and literally are good for nothing else. I have a brain and earn 3 x their earnings, so no thanks!
From what has been shared it appears the school acted promptly. I suspect body cavity searches are not standard practice in the school as they are at the PD. It is likely an arrest has to be made, miranda rights given, before searching body cavities? The individual was a juvenile, so other legal protections are in place.
Please keep in mind, this further supports “see something say something”. Kudos to the kids that did.
Please also use this, as a heads up, if the individual came to school with a gun hidden, and this individual is a friend of your child they could do the same at your home, or any public business. Know your childrens friends. Use the apps on electronic devices to know what your children are doing and seeing. Have discussions on handling of guns, ramifications of threats, etc.
This individual got the gun somewhere, that person should also be held responsible.
Bashing the Police chief serves no purpose. He and the superintendent are demonstrating a united front, appropriately so. There are issues both need to handle within their respective domains. A prominent one seems to be how and when parents are notified.
For the person mentioning a lock down. The school isolated the individual, no need to lock the school down. Get informed and understand school safety. Contact your state representatives and DPI on transparent and timely reporting of these events. I.e. with the recent Roosevelt event, per the news, middle school admins had not let KPD know of comments and behavior of student prior to the event. There needs to be better defined criteria on reporting to LE from schools.
The police OWE ALL OF US a Full Description of HOW an “over the clothes” search is done and even trained for.
We are talking about a procedure that is obviously a big part of an officers training.
Let’s get the Chief to explain the process. Demonstrate the actual procedure on a similar size and clothed adult and explain why it took three tries to get it right.
And curious that they kept looking ????
Did the second officer not believe the first ??
Did the third officer not believe the second ??
Inquiring minds want to know
Often times when there is a mention of a weapon, two officers may search the party. Also – I’m assuming the kid was transported somewhere – detention or the PD, based on the threats that he made. Before the transporting officer puts an individual into their vehicle, they also would do a search because they are responsible for anyone and anything that enters their squad. That *could* explain why 3 officers did a search.
….. questions remain on why and how the third officer found it and the first two didn’t.
@Still, the news articles that I have seen all state that the gun was found at juvenile intake, which I believe means when he was being processed at the juvenile detention center.
That’s smart ! Not.
Driver is lucky someone didn’t die.
Unless it was Pleasant Prairie conducting the search….
That gun had to smell–i would hate to have been the one to retrieve it
That’s a high caliber comment .
He definitely hit the bullseye on that one….
What would we do without cops to protect us?! 😆
I’d like to know what the training standards are for searches as well, and what are the requirements to earn your position as a school officer? Kpd should really have a policy that mandates a minimum amount of experience to be promoted to school officer. Does KUSD choose who gets placed there, or does the police chief choose?
Clearly, the SRO
And first officer (?) Didn’t change
From being a fried
To being a policing official.
Seems TSA can to a better job.
Un paid leave for both for this basic failure to police!
Holy shit, another KUSD educated.
Maybe someone can look into how kpd does selections for positions. They (allegedly)recently held some interviews where the people conducting the interviews had romantic involvements with some of the interviewing candidates I heard. I wonder how they turned out, and if someone could compel the interview panel to disclose that?
Say what???
Sargent hard would have found that gun hidden in there.
Someone anonymously say kid’s name
Too many pussies to do that…..
A little over a year ago…..Hidden gun missed, man in handcuffs in back of squad.
“Preliminary information indicates the arrestee suffered a self-inflicted gun shot wound from a concealed weapon not located in the initial search by officers.”
https://kenoshacountyeye.com/2023/07/21/in-custody-man-who-killed-himself-in-back-of-pleasant-prairie-police-car-identified/
https://www.greenlightsgrantinitiative.org/
These grants are available and I believe they will be gone in April 2025.
What is with all the Patton hate? “He loves being in front of the camera”? What do you think transparency and accountability look like? Fucking mouth breathers in this comment section.
Transparency? Seriously? KPD has yet to put out a media release. This was a kid with a GUN in the SCHOOL. Great transparency.
Joint KUSD and KPD media release. Nothing further from the KPD yet.
How about- has KPD recommended and asked for adult charges or not? Police get to ask/recommend charges to juvenile intake and/or the DA’s office. The DAs office reviews the facts, and decides. What was the kpd’s recommendation?
Which member of the DA’s office is reviewing?