Chris Watkins Sheriff | Peoria County
Chris Watkins Sheriff | Peoria County
A 15-year-old male has been charged with Aggravated Discharge of a Firearm after firing shots at Manual High School in Peoria on Friday, August 22. The teenager is being held at the Peoria County Juvenile Detention Center. Authorities have filed a motion to transfer his case to adult felony court.
According to officials, officers responded around 2:20 p.m. to a four-round ShotSpotter alert at Manual High School. Police found that two bullets struck the school—one hitting the glass front door and entering the foyer, and another impacting an exterior wall.
A witness reported seeing a male fleeing from the area. After a brief foot chase, police apprehended the suspect and recovered a loaded handgun.
During questioning, authorities say the defendant admitted he had been suspended from school earlier that day. He then went to a relative's home, stole a handgun, returned to the school, and fired multiple shots toward it while standing across the street before running away.
The investigation remains ongoing. The Peoria Police Department asks anyone with information about this incident to call 309-673-4521.
Manual High School is one of 64 schools in Peoria County, which had an average student-to-teacher ratio of 15-to-1 during the 2022-23 academic year. Across all county schools, there were 27,081 students enrolled and 1,844 full-time faculty members (https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Home.aspx). Teacher absenteeism in Peoria County was recorded at 32.3% for that year, slightly below Illinois’ state average of 35.6% (https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Home.aspx).
Peoria High School had the highest enrollment of Black students among county schools in that period with 798 students (https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Home.aspx).
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