Cook County Blog

Schools on lockdown because of disgruntled employee (My Suburban Life)

I was there; coming home from physical therapy and Lake Street was swarming with Bartlett and Streamwood cops. This is right on the border of Streamwood and Bartlett and it appears the man was hispanic. A fire truck had a ladder extended to the roof of one of the buildings in the strip mall, so I don't know precisely what happened and didn't stop to take pictures or ask what was going on.

But this is what My Suburban Life had to say about the incident.

Bartlett, IL -Eastview Middle School and Bartlett Elementary School were on lockdown Monday after a Streamwood man threatened an employee at a Lake Street business.

The Bartlett Police Department was the first to respond to reports of a disgruntled employee at a business near the 200 block of East Lake Street in unincorporated Cook County around 2:15 p.m.

A Streamwood man implied he was armed with a weapon and threatened a coworker, police said.

Eastview Middle School and Bartlett Elementary School were immediately notified of the situation and placed on a temporary precautionary lockdown until the Streamwood man was located.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office later took over the investigation.

While Bartlett Police reported that the Streamwood man made the threat in person, the Sheriff’s Office said the threat was made over the phone.

Lisa Gordon, spokeswoman for the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, said the man threatened over the phone that he had a gun and was coming there to take care of a money issue.

“The owner signed a complaint for disorderly conduct and phone threat,” Gordoncq said. “There was no reference to (the Streamwood man) being an employee of the business.”

Around 2:30 p.m., the man was taken into custody without incident at a business in the 5000 block of Valley Lane in Streamwood and turned over to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, Bartlett police said. It was later determined the Streamwood man was unarmed.

It was somewhat of an over reaction on the part of the schools to 'lockdown' as a result of this.

If it's the man I saw as we were driving by, waving his arms, with his eyes glazed over, it would appear they left out the part that he was not only disorderly, he was drunk.