I am so sorry. It was a dumb joke that wasn't funny, but I didn't realize how uh really serious it was. On February 5th, 2024, in Villa Park, Illinois, a teenage girl posted a so-called joke on Snapchat about shooting up her school. She thought it was funny and harmless, but Snapchat flagged it and the FBI got involved. Officers showed up and her private story suddenly turned into a serious investigation. It all started as a joke, but it quickly became a nightmare. she couldn't laugh out of. Hello. Hi. Hi. So, mom's on the phone just as a courtesy. Um, I know she's got track practice today, so we want to make sure that you guys at the school knew and what you guys want to decide as far as what she's going to do. So, you can explain to them. Do you mind? Okay. So, this morning, um, I made a post to my private story on Snapchat to my two to my private story on chap Snapchat. There we go. It was just to two friends. Um, and it just said something about how I hate slow walkers and like something like something along the lines of shooting up the school basically. Um, and Snapchat flagged it and they locked my account like I I can't even show you what the post is because I don't have access to my Snapchat account anymore. And um, yeah, we got notified from the FBI about this snap because it came back to an IP address. I I'm assuming here. Yeah. And her living here. Um, but you did you snap this at the school? Yes. Okay. This was like during passing period, second period. Okay. So, it was actually not reported by these I believe it just from Snapchat to FBI to us. Yeah. Cuz no one even saw it like cuz since there was only two people like it had not even gotten no one could have even screenshotted it to spread it around like it's not like a thing. It was just a dumb joke that your profile. And did you get the FA? Yeah. Did they give it to you? Do we have the go check? But yeah. And um no weapons in the house, right, Mom? Mom, no. No. No weapons in the house. No Foy cards, no no history, no arrest. No. You're 18, right? Correct. Yep. So, and she's got track practice today. So, Okay. Well, uh track practice not going to happen. Um, okay. I don't need to talk to mommy. You're 18, so I I'll talk to Can I talk to mom? I'll talk. I'm Mr. Tate. I'm sister principal at the school. And so, how you doing, Mom? I'm good. How are you? I'm doing okay. So, um, just in our protocols, just want to make sure you understand. Um, obviously we have to get this cleared through, you know, it's got to go through the FBI to the police and then everything's got to get cleared through the police before we even can talk about her coming back to track or even school. Um, and then we have to get all the information. And I know I heard like somewhat of the story from your daughter, like I was saying something with shooting. We have to actually see what was written and then we go from there. So, I'm going to ask her to keep her at home until it gets all processed out. It might take a day or two. Once we have it processed out, um, then we'll give you a call and her call cuz police, yes, if she's 18, she gets to make that decisions, but how school school board works is they said, you know, you live in your parents' house, so your parents still have the say until you graduate because, you know, so she cracked a joke, but Snapchat was the only one who didn't laugh. They flagged her post and locked her account, and the FBI picked it up from there. By the time she realized it was serious, officers were already at her school. She tried to explain it was just a joke. But here's the thing, the FBI didn't care how many followers she had. The post got flagged and that was enough. Um, so right now a lot of stuff's got to get cleared up, Mom, before she can come back to school. Um, just because we don't want to Oops. Okay. Okay. All right. And mom, just so you know, right now, she get her in finance and all that stuff, right? That's no problem. Yeah, we can we can inform um teachers and and staff about Google Classroom and if it goes too long, which I don't think it will, but if it goes way too long, then we generally get her on what's called a VLA program, a virtual learning academy, so that she can do her work from there. Okay. Okay. Okay, Mom, just so you're aware right now, I'm going to take uh your daughter to the police department, okay? And we're going to have a conversation there. Victor 56 status. I'm sorry. One more time, Mom. Where you going? to the police department to the Villa Park Police. Okay. Okay. You can't you should be waiting in the lobby till we're done. Okay. I'm sorry. Um he says that you would just have to wait. Let me get a cage. Okay. Love you. Love you. Bye. Okay. Let's uh work on putting some shoes on. Are you able to answer that address? Um, do you need to come in here at all? I'm just I can't leave you alone right now. If you have a some sort of ID, bring that with you. Okay. Um, it's in my car on the way home. Yep. Absolutely. Sorry, my room's a mess. Don't worry. Hey, I was a teenager, too, once. There's no other defendant in the house that you're looking over. Just you? Yeah. Uh, right now it's just me. My brother lives here. Uh, he's at his my dad's house. My parents are separated. All right. Lock up. Do you have anything on you? No, I don't even have pockets. Okay. All right. Thank you. Um, this is my car right here. The radio. All right. Just go ahead and grab your ID. All right. M. Well, just so you understand what's going to go what's going to happen right now. We're just going to go to the station to talk. You are not under arrest right now. Okay. Okay. Uh, I have to call the FBI. Okay. Obviously, you understand this is up here now. Yeah. I Okay. So, uh, we're going to find out what, uh, what they have to say and then we'll go from there. Okay. Okay. I am so sorry. Again, I apologize to these officers, but I should apologize to you as well. Um, it was a dumb joke that wasn't funny, but I didn't realize how uh really serious it was. Um, I believe you know that now. So, we just got to go through the motions here and then, you know, the more school goes to it, the you know, the cooperation and all that stuff, the clarity and the transparency. The assistant principal wasn't playing. He made it clear until everything clears through the police and FBI. She's not allowed back at school, not even for track, not even for a quiz. Cops told her straight up they were taking her to the station. She wasn't under arrest yet, but she wasn't free to go. the easier it is for people to move on, you know, and you get back to the business of getting ready for ISU, right? Yeah. Put on your seat belt and I'll meet you at the station right now. Okay. Okay. Oh, okay. Gotcha. There you go. There you go. And in your own words, what what did you put on there? Um, it was like Uh, like I'm a slow walker, but I'm not a snail. Like, uh, I'm so annoyed. Like, everyone's walking so slow. Like, I like what I say. I'm trying to think of the correct wording. I said something like, I'm literally going to shoot the place up or something. Well, this is what's going to happen right now. I'm still waiting for the FBI to call me back. In a minute, you'll grab your phone. uh and ask you to forward me those um emails from Snapchat. Uh I don't know what Snapchat's policy is at all. I'll have to contact them in the appropriate time. Right now is not the time. Uh um just understand that you are 18. This isn't even though you started off at school this school normally if you were under the age of 18 you would still be dealing with the school uh and their process. Now they're still there still going to happen. They're probably going to wait for me to let them know uh specific information and then um I'm going to have to screen this with the states attorney. Can you even explain that? So the state attorney is the court system in Dage. Um I have to call them and I have to explain to them what I have. Um and then pretty much they will decide not us. They will decide if they are going to want to charge you criminally for doing this. Okay. I have no control under that. I I don't know what they'll say. Tell you the truth, at this point or another, they're not I can't call them right now because I don't have that screenshot. I don't know officially, and I'm being very honest with you, okay? I don't know uh until I have that physically to have to show them cuz they're going to ask for it. Okay? Um but that's that's where you're at right now, Ben. At this point, you are not in custody because I don't have evidence. I have what you're saying, which is, you know, your statement, but I have to physically be able to see that that Snapchat and they that could take a couple days. Okay. Now, I very I appreciate your honesty. You've been very honest with me and I, you know, I hope that you feel that um I've been very honest with you. I'm trying to explain to you the process. Um there's multiple possibilities. I don't know what the school's going to do. During the investigation, an officer at the station explained the next steps. He needed screenshots of the post, emails from Snapchat, and anything official. Without them, she wasn't charged yet. But he clarified that the final decision rested with the state's attorney. And yes, even though she wasn't handcuffed, she could be. The teenage girl was not charged with terroristic threats. Authorities believe she made the post in poor judgment but did not intend real harm because she cooperated fully and remorsefully. The case was handled without formal charges. However, she was temporarily removed from school and questioned by police. The state's attorney and the FBI reviewed the incident before clearing her. So, in the end, if you enjoyed the video, hit that like button and drop your thoughts in the comments. Let's see who stands out the most. the best comment gets pinned. And hey, don't forget to share this video with your friends and family so they don't miss out on the fun. And now, here's a challenge for you. On your screen, you're seeing the four best playlists. Click on anyone and I promise you won't regret it. You'll definitely enjoy this one. See you next time. Till then keep watching.