THE FOLLOWING IS AN URBANA POLICE DEPARTMENT RELEASE
TERRORISTIC THREATS IMPACTING URBANA HIGH SCHOOL & URBANA MIDDLE SCHOOL
On November 7, 2022, at about 7 AM, staff at UHS contacted The Urbana High School Police School Resource Officer concerning a threat from an unknown person who called the school’s office. The caller mentioned that he was going to kill students by shooting them at the high school. He also mentioned pipe bombs.
Urbana Police Officers responded to the scene to make contact with school officials. Throughout the next hour, several additional calls were made by an unknown male and female caller from different numbers, with similar terroristic threats. Out of an abundance of caution, the decision was made to cancel classes at UMS and UHS for the day, pending verifying the validity of the threats and investigation.
UHS was immediately put on lockdown. Students, staff and buses that were en route, were re-directed to the predetermined reunification site. During the course of the incident, police later learned that a message was also left on the voicemail of the middle school by an unknown offender with similar threats.
Law Enforcement Officials from Urbana Police, University of Illinois Police, Champaign County Sheriff’s Office and The Illinois Secretary of State Police all responded to assist in the evacuation of students. Explosive Detecting Canines and law enforcement officials are currently securing the schools.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Urbana Police are working together to gather additional facts and investigate this issue further. Urbana Police ask that anyone who has additional information or video footage of the incident please contact police at 217-384-2320. Arrangements can be made for information to be shared privately.
Anyone wishing to remain anonymous may also submit tips to Crime Stoppers by phone at: 217-373- 8477 (TIPS); online at 373tips.com; or the “P3 Tips” mobile app.
Citizens are reminded that information submitted to Crime Stoppers is completely anonymous. Calls are routed to a third-party national call center that receives your information, completes a tips information form, and then passes the information to the appropriate law enforcement agency. Caller ID tracking is not utilized by Crime Stoppers and conversations are not recorded.
Crime Stoppers will pay cash rewards of $5,000 for tips that lead to an arrest in any homicide case, $2,500 for tips leading to an arrest in a felony crime involving a firearm, and up to $1,000 for tips leading to the arrest of the person(s) responsible for any other crime.
