Authorities: Hate Crime Took Place in State’s Attorney Employee's Home

Chicago - FOX Chicago News reported the story exclusively Wednesday night . A student at Brother Rice High School terrorized was by three teens that put a noose around his neck.

In reaction to that hate crime, Brother Rice “removed” one of its students, who is accused in the case.

“We're not going to tolerate any sort of behavior that detracts from the safety and the purpose of our school environment,” Brother Rice President Dr. Kevin Burns said.

The mother of one of the suspects, who attends a different school, works for the state's attorney's office. Prosecutors have now asked the Attorney General's office to take that case.

Meanwhile, at Brother Rice they are reiterating the values that this all-boys Catholic School stands for. The school is making it clear that what happened in this case is unacceptable.

“Something like this shouldn't be tolerated, especially for the message of Brother Rice,” Merritt said.

Joshua Merritt said fellow students were very supportive Thursday, after learning about what happened to him last month. Merritt said he's glad the school took the action it did, suspending a 17-year-old fellow student charged in the case.

“It was disturbing to our students, to our parents, to our community to our alums to our faculty today to hear something like this,” Dr. Burns said. “You don't want to hear it any time let alone at your own school.”

At the home of that student, his mother refused to comment. The Dec. 23 incident happened at her Beverly home.

The mother of the 16-year-old Morgan Park Student works as an administrative assistant in the Cook County State's Attorney's office. She called the allegations lies.

Merritt said it was former friend and classmate Matthew Herrmann, 18, who lured him to the house and prompted the other two defendants to put the noose around his neck.

Later outside the house, the 16-year-old put a knife to his throat and threatened to kill him.

Merritt said he was so scared, enough to “really worry about my life, that I might not be able to go see my parents, my sisters, my friends.”

He thought he wouldn’t get out of the house alive.

The principal addressed the incident with students Thursday, and counselors were on hand.

The President calls what happened regrettable but it has provided a teachable moment for his students.

“This is an opportunity to teach our young men that there is a right and a wrong way to handle things,” Dr. Burns said, “and clearly this was one was handled very, very poorly.”

Follow Craig Wall on Twitter: @craigrwall