Police Continue To Investigate Niles West Bomb Threat

While emphasizing that the caller who phoned in a bomb threat to Niles West last Tuesday, Oct. 4, had no credibility and that no danger exists, Skokie police say they're actively investigating the incident and devoting a lot of resources to it.

A caller who identified himself as "Frank Anderson" phoned the school at 2:54 p.m. that day, just in advance of the school's 3:20 p.m. dismissal, and said someone was going to bomb a Niles school.

Skokie police determined the threat was not credible, but on Thursday, Commander Brian Baker said Skokie police are following up leads in conjunction with police departments in other jurisdictions. The caller made threatening calls to schools in other northern suburbs as well, he said.

Earlier:

Students from Skokie, Morton Grove, Lincolnwood and the eastern half of Niles attend Niles West, which is located in Skokie. Niles North High School, the other large high school in District 219, and Niles Central, its smaller high school, are also located in Skokie.

"We have a lot of resources directed at this. The moment we feel we can share information, we'll inform everyone as to the whole story and how it played out the way it did," Baker said.

Releasing information now could jeopardize the investigation, he said, adding he's aware parents and students want to know more. He re-emphasized police believe the threat has no credibility.

"Our concern is that this is a disruption to normal life and it makes people scared. But there's nothing to indicate anyone's at risk," Baker said.

Sgt. Robert Tornabene of the Niles Police Department said that at the time his department received word of the phone call, they advised schools within the village of Niles that there had been a non-specific threat.

"From what I'm understanding, it was not a big concern because there was no credibility to it whatsoever," Tornabene said.

Get more news. Like Niles Patch on Facebook