LEROY – Reaction was swift when school officials and law enforcement authorities realized a LeRoy-Ostrander High School student had taken a gun from his home and had left threatening notes in his locker.

Friday, March 24, 2000

LEROY – Reaction was swift when school officials and law enforcement authorities realized a LeRoy-Ostrander High School student had taken a gun from his home and had left threatening notes in his locker.

"We had to take it seriously," Terese Amazi, chief deputy of the Mower County Sheriff’s Department, said Thursday at a news conference in Austin. "He had six or eight different entries of people on a list."

The 17-year-old rural LeRoy resident has eluded authorities for a full day. He was apprehended Thursday morning about three miles north and east of Spring Valley on Fillmore County Road 38.

The teen left LeRoy Wednesday with a .22-caliber rifle and a friend’s car. He had left the LeRoy-Ostrander school building Wednesday morning on the premise that he was going home to pick up something he forgot and he never returned. The student, described by family members as a "loner," left behind him at least two notes discovered in his school locker that threatened harm to himself and others.

Once the student’s father realized a gun was missing at the home, authorities moved quickly. Working with law enforcement, the student’s locker was searched, producing the threatening notes. The school building was secured for the remainder of Wednesday and, when he still hadn’t surfaced, school was canceled for Thursday. Classes were back in session today.

According to Mower County Sheriff Barry Simonson, the "hit list" found in the locker had several entries, and included threats against a particular group of students who the sheriff wouldn’t identify, another against several celebrities and one against a person he felt "had slighted him" in Rochester.

Before the teen-ager was found, the mood in LeRoy was somber, hopeful that the young man would be found without having done harm to himself or others.

Bev Loven has two children in high school in LeRoy who were home sleeping Thursday morning.

"No, we weren’t overly concerned last night about our own safety," Loven said when asked whether she kept her kids home the night before. "We knew there were officers down here looking for him. We were just hoping they would find him safe and sound."

After he was found, the mood turned to one of relief.

"We’re very grateful," LeRoy-Ostrander Superintendent John Varner said.

The Fillmore County deputy who spotted and followed the car, took the teen into custody without incident. The gun was in the car, but it was not loaded, nor was there any ammunition in the vehicle. The LeRoy teen-ager is being held at a juvenile facility in Rochester.

Law enforcement officials were aided in their search by several civilian phone calls, prompted by a description of the car, a black Oldsmobile Cutlass, on television news Wednesday night. The first call came from Rochester, and later a person with a cellular phone was able to follow the car for a time.

Amazi, who has had previous experience both with juveniles and detective work, interviewed the teen-ager with another officer after his arrest.

"He was calm, but still threatening to harm himself," Amazi said. Amazi added that the teen-ager didn’t point to any particular incident at home or school that led to his departure from school Wednesday, just that "there were so many things going on in his head that he didn’t know how to cope."

No charges have been filed yet.

Simonson said his department was preparing a report that would be turned over to Mower County Attorney Patrick Oman. Possible charges include car theft and terroristic threats on a felony level. Oman will decide what charges the county will file. Simonson said this morning that he expects the youth to make an appearance in juvenile court today.

"We want to get him into the court system, so we can get him the help he might need," Simonson said.

While students returned to classes in LeRoy today, counselors were available at the K-12 school to assist students who needed help dealing with the situation.