Note Threatens Ill. School Shooting

[March 27, 2008]  MACOMB (AP) -- A handwritten note threatening a shooting at Western Illinois University in Macomb has prompted an increased police presence on campus. No suspect is in custody.

School officials are giving students the option of skipping classes without penalty Wednesday but aren't locking down the 11,000-student campus.

The threat was left at an off-campus apartment. A little more than a month ago, a gunman killed five students and himself in a crowded lecture hall at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, about 150 miles northeast of Macomb.

Police say the anonymous note was found by an employee of the apartment complex in a drop-box late Tuesday or early Wednesday.

[Associated Press; By ROXANA HEGEMAN]

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