AndrewBlakeLyons, IL – An Illinois father got on Facebook and threatened to have an uncle show up at the school with an AR-15 after his son was pushed into a bookshelf by bullies and had to be treated for a head injury.
On March 22, Paul Chapman posted a photo of his brother in uniform, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Chapman, 43, posted that his brother would go to an elementary school in “full uniform” with an AR-15 to “make an impression” on first-graders who had bullied his son, according to prosecutors.
Then he called his son in sick to school the next day, according to WFLD-TV.
Chapman was arrested on March 23 after school officials were alerted to the threat.
Five of the school district’s 130 elementary schools were placed on “soft lockdown,” the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Police said no students were ever in any danger.
Chapman charged with felony disorderly conduct and his bail was set at $10,000 by Judge John Lyke Jr, WFLD reported.
Lyons is a village that is about 14 miles west of Chicago.
Chapman’s lawyer said his client never threatened any specific person or place in his post.
This was not the first father to take this same tact recently.
A father was arrested on Jan. 24 in Granite Falls, Washington, after he went to the school office and told administrators he would come back with a gun if they didn’t do something about students bullying his daughter, The Daily Herald reported.
“If my daughter keeps getting bullied, [I’m] going to come to the school with a gun and take care of the kids [myself],” the father told the staff of Granite Falls Middle School, according to police reports filed in court. “It’s not a threat. I will come here with a gun. I will take a life sentence for my children.”
The father, who didn’t actually own a gun, was arrested and booked into jail while police investigated him for felony harassment, according to Granite Falls Police Chief Christopher Ferreira said.