Student charged with felony arson at Evanston Township High School

Juliet Freudman, Reporter

A 16-year-old male student was charged with arson Monday after starting a locker fire at Evanston Township High School that afternoon.

A school video revealed the boy, a Skokie resident, lighting a paper object on fire before putting it in a third-floor hallway locker, the Evanston Police Department said in a news release. Police and fire units were dispatched around 12:15 p.m., during the school’s sixth period. Students remained with their teachers until they were given the all-clear by the Fire Department at 1:25 p.m., ETHS said in a news release.

“No students or staff were in danger at any time,” officials said in the release.

The Evanston Fire Department extinguished the fire before it spread to more than two lockers, EPD said in the release. No one was injured, although students nearby the fire at the time were relocated to a different part of the school. Smoke from the fire forced the Evanston Fire Department to ventilate areas on the second and third floor around the lockers.

ETHS said students and staff were kept up to date of the situation via the high school’s P.A. system, while families were informed via telephone voice messages.

Detectives from the Evanston Police’s Juvenile Bureau charged the student with one count of felony aggravated arson and transported him to the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, EPD said in the release.

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