Two days after two Chesterton Middle School boys were detained following a threat to “shoot up a school” posted to social media, a third Duneland Schools student--in a separate incident--was detained for reportedly making a similar threat.

On Saturday the Duneland School Corporation (DSC) sent an e-mail to parents advising them that, earlier in the day, the Chesterton Police Department received a report that a male student “using a digital group chat through a gaming system” made a remark threatening school safety at Chesterton High School.

The CPD notified DSC of the incident and an investigation was opened. CPD detectives, working with the boy’s parents, subsequently determined that the threat was not credible. “The student believed he was ‘messing’ with his friends and was ‘joking around,” DSC said in the e-mail.

The student was transported to the Porter County Juvenile Detention Center pending a delinquency charge of intimidation.

“We take matters of safety very seriously and will proceed appropriately in accordance with school discipline and policy,” DSC said. “Again, Duneland School Corporation places the safety and well-being of our students as its highest priority. We are thankful for the diligence in reporting on the part of both the student and the parent who contacted CPD. Your ongoing support is appreciated.”

On Thursday, Jan. 31, two CMS boys--a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old--were detained on a delinquency charge of intimidation after the 13-year-old, while visiting family in Valparaiso, told Siri on his iPhone, “I am going to shoot up a school.” Siri’s response--based on the boy’s location at the time--was to identify multiple schools in Valparaiso. The boy then screenshot the query and posted it to social media, along with photos of himself and his friend, the 14-year-old, holding guns.

Those photos are believed to have been taken in the fall of 2018. Police said that neither boy currently has access to firearms, that the threat was not deemed credible, and that the post to social media was intended as a joke.