Wisconsin

Teen is in custody after trying to enter Wisconsin elementary school while armed, police say

Published

1 year ago

November 8, 2024

Teen is in custody after trying to enter Wisconsin elementary school while armed, police say

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A 13-year-old boy who had researched school shootings online was arrested hours after he tried to enter a Wisconsin elementary school with suspicious bags, police said.

Investigators believe the boy was armed, judging by videos of him brandishing what investigators believe was a rifle and comments he made to other students, said Patrick Patton, police chief in Kenosha, a city on Lake Michigan between Milwaukee and Chicago.

“We narrowly missed a tragedy,” Patton said at a news conference Thursday afternoon.

The teen tried to enter Roosevelt Elementary School around 9 a.m. Thursday with a backpack and a duffle bag, according to police. Staff members grew suspicious and moved to question him, but he fled.

Kenosha Unified schools were placed on lockdown for the rest of the day as police searched for the boy. They finally arrested him at his home that afternoon.

The teen attends Mahone Middle School in Kenosha and was a former Roosevelt Elementary student, police said, but they have not released his name. They said in a news release Friday that he has been charged with making terroristic threats. Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley said in an email to The Associated Press on Friday that the boy will be prosecuted in juvenile court, where proceedings are confidential.

It was unclear Friday whether the boy was actually armed when he tried to enter the elementary school. Patton said investigators believe he was carrying a firearm, but the chief has not said whether police recovered any weapons or ammunition from him.

A search of his home netted several pellet guns that resembled real handguns and a pellet rifle that resembled a real rifle, police said in Friday’s news release. The boy’s mother told investigators he didn’t have access to any actual firearms.

The teen told detectives he went to the elementary school to sell candy but later told a social worker he intended to scare students, police said.

Investigators also “have information that the suspect performed multiple internet searches related to school shootings,” Patton said Thursday, adding that the teen had shared videos and made several comments to fellow students for weeks before Thursday.

“This is something that had been told to people of his growing intentions,” Patton said. “We know that there is internet searches, and all the red flags that we would look for and expect someone to report were there.”

Police received at least one video of the student wielding what investigators believe is a rifle, Patton said. The chief played a video at a news conference Thursday that shows the student holding a firearm as he appears to practice room-entry techniques, Patton said. The chief did not specify when or where the video was filmed, but it appears to have been filmed in a home.

“The Kenosha Police Department had reason to believe the suspect had access to some type of firearm based on videos on social media and other witness information,” the agency said in Friday’s news release. “The actions on scene were extremely suspicious and the internet activity by the suspect suggested they had extensive research history related to previous school shootings, information on how to execute a school shooting, and specifics about the targeted building.”

The student was taken into custody some six months after police shot and killed an armed student outside a Wisconsin middle school following a report of someone with a weapon. The May shooting in Mount Horeb, outside Madison, sent children fleeing and led to an hourslong lockdown of local schools. Prosecutors announced in August that the officers who fatally shot the student would not face criminal charges.

Kenosha made national headlines in August 2020 after a white police officer shot a Black man during a domestic disturbance, leaving him paralyzed. The shooting spurred several nights of protests. A white Illinois teenager named Kyle Rittenhouse shot three people during the unrest, killing two of them. A jury eventually acquitted Rittenhouse of any wrongdoing after he argued he fired in self-defense.

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Callahan reported from Indianapolis.

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin judge sends Slender Man attacker back to mental health institution after group home escape

Published

5 hours ago

December 23, 2025

Press Room

Wisconsin judge sends Slender Man attacker back to mental health institution after group home escape

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin woman who almost killed her sixth-grade classmate to please the fictional horror villain known as Slender Man was ordered back to a state psychiatric hospital Tuesday after she escaped from her group home last month.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge K. Scott Wagner granted a state Department of Health Services request to revoke 23-year-old Morgan Geyser’s release privileges. Geyser told the judge through her attorney, Tony Cotton, last week that she would not fight revocation. Wagner then approved the request during a short hearing.

Cotton didn’t immediately respond to an email message seeking comment.

Geyser and her friend Anissa Weier lured their classmate, Payton Leutner, to a Waukesha park in 2014. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier cheered her on. A passing bicyclist discovered Leutner, who barely survived. All three girls were 12 years old at the time.

Geyser and Weier later told investigators they attacked Leutner in hopes of impressing Slender Man enough that he would make them his servants and wouldn’t hurt their families. Both of them were eventually committed to the Winnebago Mental Health Institute — Geyser for 40 years and Weier for 25 years.

Weier earned conditional release in 2021. Wagner granted Geyser conditional release this past September despite warnings from state Department of Health Services officials that she couldn’t be trusted.

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Geyser was placed in a Madison group home. Authorities say that on Nov. 22 she cut off her GPS monitor and fled the state with a 43-year-old companion. Police arrested both of them the next day at a truck stop outside Chicago, about 170 miles (274 kilometers) south of Madison.

Geyser’s companion told WKOW-TV that the two of them became friends at church and had been seeing each other daily for the last month. Geyser decided to escape because she was afraid the group home would no longer allow them to see each other, the companion said.

Slender Man was created online by Eric Knudsen in 2009 as a mysterious figure photo-edited into everyday images of children at play. He grew into a popular boogeyman, appearing in video games, online stories and a 2018 movie.

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin warns of “sextortion,” online crimes against kids

Published

17 hours ago

December 23, 2025

Press Room

Wisconsin warns of “sextortion,” online crimes against kids

MILWAUKEE – The FBI calls it an online crime against kids – perpetrators convincing kids to send sexual images of themselves and then blackmailing them.

Online crime against kids

The backstory:

The reality is settling in. This will be Brittney Bird’s first Christmas without her son, Bradyn Bohn, since he was born. That is because just nine months ago, the 15-year-old died by suicide, just hours after telling his family good night.

“This winter has been pretty heavy,” Bird said. “This will be a lot of first this year.”

Bird said Bradyn was the kind of kid who would always try to make you launch. The teen had a lot of friends, played sports, did well academically, and had big plans for the future.

“Definitely a kid who we were just so proud of,” Bird said. “Bradyn never struggled with or suffered from mental illness or depression or anything of that nature so immediately we knew, you know something’s wrong.”

Once police went through Bradyn’s phone, she said it came out he was the victim of the cyber crime, sextortion.

What is sextortion?

What we know:

“Sextortion is a form of online child exploitation where a child is coerced by a perpetrator to send compromising images,” said Jesse Crowe from the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

This week, the Wisconsin Department of Justice sent out a public service announcement on sextortion.

Officials say suspects often pose as someone else online. While exchanging messages, they convince a child to send images of themselves. Once they have explicit images of the child, they use the photos or videos to blackmail the child into sending even more images, money or ask for sexual favors.

FBI data, change in Wisconsin law

Dig deeper:

The FBI said victims are typically males between the ages of 14 and 17, but any child can be a target.

This crime led to at least 20 suicides between October 2021 and March 2023.

In the months after Bradyn’s death, change would come to Wisconsin. Earlier in December, Gov. Tony Evers signed Bradyn’s Law. It creates a new crime of sexual extortion in Wisconsin. It aims to ensure harsh penalties for those who exploit children online.

“It will bring, hopefully statewide, eventually nationwide attention to where every family is having this conversation with their kids,” Bird told FOX6 News.

Take action

What you can do:

The Department of Justice said the best thing to do if a child finds themselves in this situation is the following:

Block the perpetrator
Report the account, but do not delete the messages
Tell a trusted adult
Do not send any money

Resources available

The Source: Information in this post was produced by FOX6 News.

Crime and Public SafetyMilwaukeeNews

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Wisconsin

Trump names Christmas Eve, Dec. 26 federal holidays. What does that mean for Wisconsin?

Published

1 day ago

December 22, 2025

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Trump names Christmas Eve, Dec. 26 federal holidays. What does that mean for Wisconsin?

President Donald Trump declared Christmas Eve and Dec. 26 to be federal holidays this year.

The Dec. 18 executive order deems the days as work holidays for all federal departments and agencies, but adds some of them will remain open. Certain offices may stay open on one or both days for “national security, defense, or other public need,” the order reads.

But, what does this mean for other federal workers and services?

Here’s what to know in Wisconsin:

Are Christmas Eve, Dec. 26 official federal holidays?

Even though Christmas Eve and Dec. 26 have been declared federal holidays in 2025, they are not permanent additions to the holiday schedule.

Legislation must be passed by Congress and then signed into law by the president for a federal holiday declaration to be official.

Who gets Christmas Eve, Dec. 26 off in Wisconsin?

Only federal agencies are set to be closed on Christmas Eve and Dec. 26, according to USA TODAY.

Since these two days have not been designated permanent federal holidays, many businesses that follow the schedule will likely not give their employees a last-minute extended Christmas break.

Wisconsin state government and Milwaukee city offices are closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but will be open on Dec. 26.

Will mail still be delivered on Christmas Eve, Dec. 26 in Wisconsin?

Yes. The U.S. Postal Service will deliver mail and post office locations will remain open on Christmas Eve and Dec. 26, according to its website. Mail will not be delivered and locations will be closed on Christmas.

Will banks be open on Christmas Eve, Dec. 26 in Wisconsin?

Yes. Banks will follow the typical schedule of being open on Christmas Eve and Dec. 26, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve. Banks will be closed on Christmas.

Mary Walrath-Holdridge of USA TODAY contributed to this report.

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